DUVAL, Frédéric. 2021. La tradition manuscrite du Lai de l’Ombre de Joseph Bédier, ou la critique textuelle en question; BELTRAMI, Pietro. 2021. À quoi sert une édition critique ? Lire les textes de la littérature romane médiévale; TROVATO, Paolo. 2019. Sguardi da un altro pianeta. Nove esercizi di filologia (Lai de l’ombre, Libro de buen amor, Lazarillo, fonti storiche e musicali); BAKER, Craig, Marcello BARBATO, Mattia CAVAGNA, Yan GREUB, eds. 2018. L’Ombre de Joseph Bédier: théorie et pratique éditoriales au xxe siècle; TROVATO, Paolo. 2017. Everything you always wanted to know about Lachmann’s method. A non-standard handbook of genealogical textual criticism in the age of post-structuralism, cladistics, and copy-text.

This review examines recent publications that revisit the legacy of Joseph Bédier and the methodological debate surrounding textual criticism, with particular attention to the Lai de l’Ombre. It discusses Frédéric Duval’s critical edition and commentary of Bédier’s seminal essay, Paolo Trovato’s neo-Lachmannian reappraisal of the manuscript tradition, and the French translation of Pietro Beltrami’s handbook on critical editions. The review highlights the continuing relevance of the Bédier/Lachmann divide, the need for terminological precision, and the importance of returning to foundational texts with renewed methodological awareness. It argues that philology remains not only a technical discipline, but also a critical habit of mind: a rigorous practice of attention to textual transmission, historical evidence, and the conditions under which literary works reach modern readers.