Abstract

In this article the variants of the word ‘lust’ are examined among 18 witnesses (16 manuscripts and two early-printed versions) of Troilus and Criseyde. The purpose is to show how textual variance gives the reader an insight of scribal dynamics. Thus, the comparison of contexts in which the variation of the word lust illustrates and furthers our understanding of textual transmission. Variance is further explained by a continuum in which text and scribe are opposite poles of an interaction that gives place to a diversity of changes, interventions, confusions, etc. Since this paper considers the literary work as the «workings of agency» which produces iterations and interpretations, scribal activity is particularly advantageous since it produces both, as Barry Windeatt explained, it is word-by-word literary criticism. Thus, through the lens of scribal activity, we can get a more comprehensive perspective of Troilus and Criseyde as a literary work.