11-11-2023, 12:06 PM
A single-author hypothesis usually has a problematic relationship with the evidence, in my opinion. Preston Currier already suspected more than his two "certain" hands, and Lisa Fagin Davis (the first professional paleographer to study the VM handwriting concludes that there were five different people writing the text.
This does not take into account the question of how many people drew the imagery, if they were the same people who wrote the text, if there was really a good painter and a later clumsy painter etc.
The degree of coordination required to pull this off suggests that at least the majority of these people were working together. This in turn presupposes a certain didactic component to the exercise, one explaining the others how it's done, or a coordination of strategies if they were working simultaneously.
This makes it hard to conclude that this was one person's fantasy world. And again, anachronism looms over this concept - what would constitute a fantasy world for medieval writers?
This does not take into account the question of how many people drew the imagery, if they were the same people who wrote the text, if there was really a good painter and a later clumsy painter etc.
The degree of coordination required to pull this off suggests that at least the majority of these people were working together. This in turn presupposes a certain didactic component to the exercise, one explaining the others how it's done, or a coordination of strategies if they were working simultaneously.
This makes it hard to conclude that this was one person's fantasy world. And again, anachronism looms over this concept - what would constitute a fantasy world for medieval writers?