An ethos for Hercules: considerations on the production of sense in the editorial management of texts

Abstract

Many editorial projects are looking forward to comprehend the processes involved in the constitution of authorship. Many evidences point out to the fact that the publication of a book implies many different social actors and technical devices. In terms of the editorial treatment of texts, on the textual materiality that will be published, there is a kind of debate about its ideas and organization, i.e. a kind of dialogue that takes place on the text body in which are proposed corrections and changes, and many questions are raised. Within the ambit of discursivity, this editorial practice implies linguistic maneuvers that reveal how, at this point, this text is still under construction. Despite the fact that the text has been structured as a final version, after going through this reading/diologue process, it moves – sometimes towards new directions, sometimes emphasizing some traces or abandoning others. Considering all the aspects above, I take into account the notion of ethos as proposed by Dominique Maingueneau to analyze excerpts of the editorial treatment given to one version of “The Twelve Labors of Heracles”, for which subtle changes in the discursive cenography necessarily change the ethos that take part of it, shading the myth.