16. On the Value of Variants and Textual Genesis for Interpretation

The article gives some hints to what extent narratology and scholarly editing could work together for the benefit of both knowledge fields. For example, narratology can be important for scholarly editing in two central editorial areas, namely (1) the text-critical constitution of the text, that means (a) the general question of textual order and (b) the specific question of a possible textual error, as well as (2) the editorial presentation of versions. Scholarly editing, in turn, can enrich narratology, if the latter, for example, takes greater account of the editorial representations of variance and textual genesis, in order to (1) gain insights into the linguistic and literary means used for (a) the creation of a certain narrative perspective, (b) the characterisation of the diegesis, (c) the basic structure of the development of the plot or (d) the assignment to a genre. In addition, the genesis of the text (2) can point out from a literary-historical point of view, which narrative methods are used to ascribe a text to the style of a specific literary period.