"Eleven literary scholars and linguists examine the range of transmission processes important to medieval literature and to the history of the English language. Contributors investigate issues such as the editorial reshaping of manuscripts; the reformulation of textual material as it crosses genres; and the mediation of doctrine through translation. Several authors study cases of transmission and exchange significant to the development of Middle and Modern English. Each of these essays considers the convoluted nature of the transmission process in question, and reconsiders the historical framework that has informed our own reception of it."--BOOK JACKET.