Response [to John M. Bowers ‘Piers Plowman‘s William Langland: Editing the Text, ‘Piers Plowman‘s William Langland: Editing the Text, Writing the Author’s Life’]

The fact of massive revision – authorial or scribal – in PPl makes decisions about editing impossible without previously committing oneself to a view on authorship. Specifically, as Donaldson argued, the B text can be corrected only from A and/or C if single authorship is assumed.