New Readings on Women and Early Medieval English Literature and Culture

Helene Scheck is Associate Professor of English at the State University of New York at Albany. Christine E. Kozikowski is Assistant Professor of English at the College of the Bahamas.

• IntroductionFeminism and Anglo-Saxon Studies, Now - Stacy S. KleinPart I: Literacy and Material CultureAnglo-Saxon Women, Woman, and Womanhood - Gale R. Owen-CrockerBeyond Valkyries: Drinking Horns in Anglo-Saxon Women’s Graves - Carol Neuman de VegvarEmbodied Literacy: Paraliturgical Performance in the Life of Saint Leoba - Lisa M. C. WestonImagining the Lost Libraries of the Anglo-Saxon Double Monasteries - Virginia BlantonPart II: Engendering Marriage and FamilyA Textbook Stance on Marriage: The Versus ad coniugem in Anglo-Saxon England - Janet Schrunk EricksenThe Circumcision and Weaning of Isaac: The Cuts that Bind - Catherine E. KarkovSaintly Mothers and Mothers of Saints - Joyce HillPlaying with Memories: Emma of Normandy, Cnut, and the Spectacle of Ælfheah’s Corpus - Colleen DunnPart III: Women of the Beowulf ManuscriptThe Missing Women of the Beowulf-Manuscript - Teresa HooperBoundaries Embodied: An Ecofeminist Reading of the Old English Judith - Heide EstesListen to the Woman: Reading Wealhþeow as Stateswoman - Helen Conrad O'BriainReading Grendel's Mother - Jane ChancePart IV: Women and Anglo-Saxon StudiesFemale Agency in Early Anglo-Saxon Studies: The “Nuns of Tavistock” and Elizabeth Elstob - Timothy GrahamThe First Female Anglo-Saxon Professors - Mary Dockray-Miller

Helen Damico and Alexandra Hennessey Olsen’s groundbreaking edited volume NewReadings on Women in Old English Literature appeared in 1991, offering a “revisioning” of Old English literature and influencing the work of many feminist scholars. A 2016 roundtable at the Medieval Congress of Kalamazoo revisited the collection, and, along with two other sessions in honor of Damico, spawned the current volume, which continues where the earlier one left off.[...] Although much has changed in the field of Old English studies since 1991, this volume illustrates the interesting and important work that remains in understanding women’s significance in both the historical record and the academy. Collectively, the essays serve as a fitting tribute to the much-esteemed Damico, who passed away in 2020, and attest to the breadth and depth of her interests, scholarship, and influence.