A Macron Signifying Nothing: Revisiting The Canterbury Tales Project Transcription Guidelines

The original transcription guidelines of The Canterbury Tales Project (CTP) were first developed by Peter Robinson and Elizabeth Solopova and were published in 1993. Since then, the project has evolved, bringing about numerous changes of varying degrees to the process of transcription. In this article, we revisit those original guidelines and the principles and aims that informed them and offer a rationale for changes in our transcription practice. We build upon Robinson and Solopova’s assertion that transcription is a fundamentally interpretive act of translation from one semiotic system to another and explore the implications and biases of our own position (e.g. how our interest in the text of The Canterbury Tales prioritizes the minutiae of that text over certain features of the document). We reevaluate the original transcription guidelines in relation to the changes in the project’s practices as a means of clarifying its position. Changes in the project’s practice illustrate how it has adapted to accommodate both necessary compromises and more efficient practices that better reflect the original principles and aims first laid down by Robinson and Solopova. This article provides practical examples that demonstrate those same principles in action as part of the transcription guidelines followed by transcribers working on The Canterbury Tales Project. Rather than perceiving this project as producing a definitive transcription of The Canterbury Tales, the CTP team conceptualizes its work as an open access resource that will aid others in producing their own editions as it has done the heavy lifting of providing a base text.

“Pacience is an Heigh Vertu”: Managing the Canterbury Tales Project Via Textual Communities

This article functions as both a reflective essay and a pedagogical account of the second phase of the Canterbury Tales Project and the various successes and challenges that unfolded throughout that process. Our focus is how the project both managed the transcription team working locally at the University of Saskatchewan and facilitated transcription workshops abroad. We detail our training process and the transcription workflow as facilitated via the Textual Communities environment. We also examine and evaluate the causes of the project’s challenges—often the result of institutional pressures or technological changes—and our reactions to those challenges, emphasizing successful strategies. Finally, we proffer future changes for the project that we believe would have made considerable positive impact if implemented from the outset of phase two and still have potential as helpful resources now. It is our hope that in detailing our process we can help other large DH projects mimic our successes and, perhaps even more importantly, avoid any pitfalls that challenged us.

You’re Collating Just Fine and Other Lies You’ve Been Telling Yourself

Although textual scholars agree that collation is a crucial component of the editing process, it often goes undefined and only briefly explained. This article defines the term, explains different kinds of collation, and explores some of its applications. We emphasize stemmatology and medieval textual traditions. By drawing from editorial examples and the theoretical frameworks of projects centred on works such as the Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, Dante’s Commedia and the Greek New Testament, the article seeks to compare manual and computer-assisted approaches to collation methods. We delineate the scope of this activity and argue that computer-assisted collation minimizes the risk of missing out on relevant data. We examine the advantages of full-text collation over sample collation and conclude that no decisions about stemmatically significant variation can be made a priory and that variant distribution is the major factor weighing on significance.

Chaucer's Solar Pageant: an Astrological Reading of the Canterbury Tales

<p>This thesis proposes a correlation between the twenty-four Canterbury Tales and an external ordered system, namely the twelve signs of the zodiac, from which one might infer Chaucer's intended ordering of the Tales. While it is generally acknowledged that the Tales contain much astrological material, the radical suggestion here is that Chaucer wrote them as a means of fulfilling his intention, expressed in A Treatise on the Astrolabe, to write a fifth part of that Treatise, in which be would explain to his ten-year old son, Lewys, the principles of astrology. The zodiac comprises twelve signs expressed as six binary oppositions throughout nature. In creating the Canterbury Tales, the thesis claims, Chaucer employed in each Tale two of those binary oppositions, a quadratic structure, to express the interplay of tensions between its main characters. The zodiacal signs symbolise parts of the human body which serve as metaphors of human characteristics according to an astrological medical melothesia that was commonplace in medieval times. The melothesia thus acts as a code, enabling Chaucer to covertly communicate sophisticated astrological knowledge whilst presenting it simplistically to political and royal court contemporaries who would have formed the bulk of his readership. Chaucer makes two rounds of the zodiac, starting with the Knight's Tale aligned with Aries (the head) replete with pagan astrological practices, completing the sequence with the Parson's Tale, aligned with Pisces (the feet), in which the pilgrims are exhorted to save their souls by repentance. The consistency with which the Tales in sequence give an emphasis to characteristics believed in the Middle Ages to be representative of the zodiacal sequence of signs is claimed to provide substantive evidence in support of one particular ordering of the Tales.</p>

Chaucer's Solar Pageant: an Astrological Reading of the Canterbury Tales

<p>This thesis proposes a correlation between the twenty-four Canterbury Tales and an external ordered system, namely the twelve signs of the zodiac, from which one might infer Chaucer's intended ordering of the Tales. While it is generally acknowledged that the Tales contain much astrological material, the radical suggestion here is that Chaucer wrote them as a means of fulfilling his intention, expressed in A Treatise on the Astrolabe, to write a fifth part of that Treatise, in which be would explain to his ten-year old son, Lewys, the principles of astrology. The zodiac comprises twelve signs expressed as six binary oppositions throughout nature. In creating the Canterbury Tales, the thesis claims, Chaucer employed in each Tale two of those binary oppositions, a quadratic structure, to express the interplay of tensions between its main characters. The zodiacal signs symbolise parts of the human body which serve as metaphors of human characteristics according to an astrological medical melothesia that was commonplace in medieval times. The melothesia thus acts as a code, enabling Chaucer to covertly communicate sophisticated astrological knowledge whilst presenting it simplistically to political and royal court contemporaries who would have formed the bulk of his readership. Chaucer makes two rounds of the zodiac, starting with the Knight's Tale aligned with Aries (the head) replete with pagan astrological practices, completing the sequence with the Parson's Tale, aligned with Pisces (the feet), in which the pilgrims are exhorted to save their souls by repentance. The consistency with which the Tales in sequence give an emphasis to characteristics believed in the Middle Ages to be representative of the zodiacal sequence of signs is claimed to provide substantive evidence in support of one particular ordering of the Tales.</p>

Transformation in Chaucer’s the ‘Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale’

In Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (c. 1387), the Wife of Bath appears “as a woman of very strong opinions who believes firmly in marriage” and as well “in the need to manage husbands strictly” (Thornley & Gwyneth 1993, p.16), and hence her story is about an Arthurian knight who rapes a maiden and has to face the consequences of his deed. The pilgrims of Chaucer’s masterpiece undergo transformations, which are chronicled in this literary text. These transformations occur in a variety of forms and take different shapes. The Wife of Bath is one of these travellers. In the following discussion, I'll look at how the ‘Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale’ handles metamorphosis. By reading this article, readers will realize that transformation is not limited to the one of the hag that occurs at the end of the tale.