Old English Literature

John D. Niles is the Frederic G. Cassidy Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Professor Emeritus of English at the University of California, Berkeley. A former President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, he is the author or editor of a dozen books on Old English literature and related topics, including The Idea of Anglo-Saxon England 1066­­­­­­–­1901: Remembering, Forgetting, Deciphering, and Renewing the Past (Wiley Blackwell, 2015) and Beowulf: The Poem and Its Tradition (1983).

• Preface and Acknowledgements viiiAbbreviations xiiPart I Main Currents in Twentieth-Century Criticism 11 Old English Studies 1901–1975 3The Earlier Twentieth Century 4Literary Criticism: A Slow Start 8Two Scholars Representative of their Eras 10New Directions after the Second World War 16Changing Currents in Beowulf Studies 20Key Works from the Early Seventies 32Part II Anglo-Saxon Lore and Learning 412 Literacy and Latinity 43Anglo-Latin Literature: Background or Mainstream? 44Education in Two Languages 52The Student in the Classroom 55The Venerable Bede 58A Selection from the Criticism 62Excerpt: Joyce Hill, ‘Learning Latin in Anglo-Saxon England: Traditions, Texts and Techniques, (2003) 643 Textuality and Cultural Transformations 76The Anglo-Saxon Book: Icon or Pragmatic Object? 78Writerly Self-Reflexivity 81Reading Old English Texts in their Manuscript Context 85Authors and Scribes: The Flux of Texts 88From Latin to Old English: Translation or Transformation? 92Source Studies and the Culture of Translation 96A Selection from the Criticism 100Excerpt: M.B. Parkes, ‘The Palaeography of the Parker Manuscript of the Chronicle, Laws, and Sedulius, and Historiography at Winchester in the Late Ninth and Tenth Centuries’ (1976) 1014 Orality 112Parry, Lord, and their Legacy 116Oral Poetics and Noetics 120A Selection from the Criticism 126Selection: Donald K. Fry, ‘The Memory of Cædmon’ (1981) 1275 Heroic Tradition 136Short Poems on Legendary Themes 139Brunanburh, Maldon, and the Critics 142Beowulf and the Critics 149Indeterminacy and its Discontents 167A Selection from the Criticism 171Selection: Ernst Leisi, ‘Gold and Human Worth in Beowulf ’, first published as ‘Gold und Manneswert im Beowulf ’ (1952) 173Part III Other Topics and Approaches 1856 Style 187A Selection from the Criticism 192Selection: J.R. Hall, ‘Perspective and Wordplay in the Old English Rune Poem’ (1977) 1947 Theme 203A Selection from the Criticism 207Selection: Hugh Magennis, ‘Images of Laughter in Old English Poetry, with Particular Reference to the Hleahtor Wera of The Seafarer’ (1992) 2098 Genre and Gender 222Genre 223Gender 227A Selection from the Criticism 230Selection: Lisa M.C. Weston, ‘Women’s Medicine, Women’s Magic: The Old English Metrical Childbirth Charms’ (1995) 2329 Saints’ Lives and Christian Devotion 246A Selection from the Criticism 254Selection: Edward B. Irving, Jr, ‘Crucifixion Witnessed, or Dramatic Interaction in The Dream of the Rood ’ (1986) 25610 Ælfric 267A Selection from the Criticism 274Excerpt: Malcolm Godden, ‘Apocalypse and Invasion in Late Anglo-Saxon England’ (1994) 27611 Translating, Editing, and Making it New 290Translating 290Editing 295Making it New 297A Selection from the Criticism 299Selection: Joshua Byron Smith, ‘Borges and Old English’ 301Afterword 319Selection Bibliography 321Index of Modern Authors Cited 329General Index 336