Practice question · Select all that apply
Which statements about the relationship between quality and survival are defensible?
Hints
- Three of these are compatible with each other; one is much stronger than the evidence allows.
- Consider whether a single surviving copy in a monastery library tells you much about relative merit.
Show the answer
- B. Some works survive for reasons unrelated to their merit
- C. Survival is filtered by institutions, languages and printing
- D. The filter is not random, since rereadable works get copied more
Why
The filter is real and it is not random, but it is also not fine-grained enough to justify the strong claim. Works survive through accidents of language, patronage and geography, which is why recovering a lost work occasionally forces a genuine revaluation rather than merely confirming what was already thought.
Practise The Canon, Tradition and the Idea of a Classic
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