Medieval History
From the ISAS organization:
Beowulf & Other Stories: A New Introduction to Old English, Old Icelandic & Anglo-Norman Literatures
Edited by Richard North (University College London) and Joe Allard (University of Essex)
ISBN: 1-4058-3572-9
Price £16.99
For more information, please go to:
http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/detail.asptem=100000000132914
Until now, Old English has been a phrase to strike fear into the hearts of students of English. A combination of remoteness, both of time and language, and a general sense of disconnectedness has meant that Old English has sometimes been remembered as a chore, a slog through the foothills of literature. Beowulf & Other Stories has been conceived in the firm belief that Old English - and its close cousins, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman - should be seen as a genuine delight, a period as replete with wonder and creativity and magic as any other in literature.
The book forages with abandon through the literature of the period, turning up en route the fire and bloodlust of the great epic, Beowulf, and the sophistication and eroticism of the Exeter Riddles. Fresh interpretations give new life to the spiritual ecstasy of The Seafarer and to the imaginative dexterity of The Dream of the Rood. Beowulf & Other Stories provides the student and general reader with all they might need to explore and enjoy this complex but rewarding field.
The book sheds light, too, on the shadowy contexts of the period, with suggestive and highly readable essays on matters ranging from the dynamism of the Viking Age to Anglo-Saxon input into Lord of the Rings, from the great religious prose works to the transition from Old to Middle English. Beowulf & Other Stories also branches out into related traditions, with expert introductions to the Icelandic Sagas, Viking Religion and Norse Mythology. Peter S. Baker provides an outstanding guide to taking your first steps in the Old English language, while David Crystal provides a crisp linguistic overview of the entire period. Written throughout with verve, panache and a deep understanding of its subject, Beowulf & Other Stories is set to be the standard introduction to the field for many years to come.
1. Introduction
Richard North, David Crystal and Joe Allard
2. Old English Influence on The Lord of the Rings
Clive Tolley
3. Beowulf and Other Battlers: an Introduction to Beowulf
Andy Orchard
4. Old English Minor Heroic Poems
Richard North
5. Joyous Play and Bitter Tears: the Riddles and the Elegies
Jennifer Neville
6. The Dream of the Rood and Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Éamonn Ó Carragáin and Richard North
7. Cædmon the Cowherd and Old English Biblical Verse
Bryan W. Wyly
8. Monasteries and Courts: Alcuin and Offa
Andy Orchard
9. Old English Prose: King Alfred and his books
Susan Irvine
10. The Old English Language
Peter S. Baker
11. Viking Wars and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Jayne Carroll
Including Notes on the Old Norse Language by Richard North
12. Viking Religion: Old Norse Mythology
Terry Gunnell
13. Sagas of the Icelanders
Joe Allard
14. Prose Writers of the English Benedictine Reform
Stewart Brookes
15. Anglo-Norman Literature: the Road to Middle English
Patricia Gillies
Epilogue: The End of Old English? David Crystal
- Cfp On Late Old English Verse
Late Old English Verse This session focuses on Old English poetry datable to between c. 950 and 1150. Many of these poems are embedded in late annals in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; most of them were snubbed by being excluded from volume 6 of the Anglo-Saxon...
- Conference: The Dating Of Beowulf: A Reassessment
Conference: The Dating of Beowulf: A Reassessment Location: Harvard University Date: September 23-24, 2011 Contact: [email protected] The dating of Beowulf is one of the most controversial and pressing issues in Anglo-Saxon studies. It has animated...
- Making Sense: Constructing Meaning In Early English
MAKING SENSE: CONSTRUCTING MEANING IN EARLY ENGLISH edited by Antonette diPaolo Healey and Kevin Kiernan. Publications of the Dictionary of Old English 7 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 2007). xii, 138 pages. ISBN 978-0-88844-907-8...
- New Books Of Interest
1. John D. Niles, Old English Enigmatic Poems and the Play of the Texts SEM 13 (October 2006) XVI+332 p., 8 b/w ill., 160 x 240 mm, 2006, Hardback ISBN 978-2-503-51530-4, EUR 60.00 This book consists of a close study of a number of verse texts chiefly...
- Books
JRR Tolkien was a medieval enthusiast. He studied and taught on a lot on medieval texts, mythologies and languages. His fiction is saturated with it, using heroic types and tales, riddles, mythological creatures, and even semantics. In his most...
Medieval History
Interesting new book
From the ISAS organization:
Beowulf & Other Stories: A New Introduction to Old English, Old Icelandic & Anglo-Norman Literatures
Edited by Richard North (University College London) and Joe Allard (University of Essex)
ISBN: 1-4058-3572-9
Price £16.99
For more information, please go to:
http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/detail.asptem=100000000132914
Until now, Old English has been a phrase to strike fear into the hearts of students of English. A combination of remoteness, both of time and language, and a general sense of disconnectedness has meant that Old English has sometimes been remembered as a chore, a slog through the foothills of literature. Beowulf & Other Stories has been conceived in the firm belief that Old English - and its close cousins, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman - should be seen as a genuine delight, a period as replete with wonder and creativity and magic as any other in literature.
The book forages with abandon through the literature of the period, turning up en route the fire and bloodlust of the great epic, Beowulf, and the sophistication and eroticism of the Exeter Riddles. Fresh interpretations give new life to the spiritual ecstasy of The Seafarer and to the imaginative dexterity of The Dream of the Rood. Beowulf & Other Stories provides the student and general reader with all they might need to explore and enjoy this complex but rewarding field.
The book sheds light, too, on the shadowy contexts of the period, with suggestive and highly readable essays on matters ranging from the dynamism of the Viking Age to Anglo-Saxon input into Lord of the Rings, from the great religious prose works to the transition from Old to Middle English. Beowulf & Other Stories also branches out into related traditions, with expert introductions to the Icelandic Sagas, Viking Religion and Norse Mythology. Peter S. Baker provides an outstanding guide to taking your first steps in the Old English language, while David Crystal provides a crisp linguistic overview of the entire period. Written throughout with verve, panache and a deep understanding of its subject, Beowulf & Other Stories is set to be the standard introduction to the field for many years to come.
1. Introduction
Richard North, David Crystal and Joe Allard
2. Old English Influence on The Lord of the Rings
Clive Tolley
3. Beowulf and Other Battlers: an Introduction to Beowulf
Andy Orchard
4. Old English Minor Heroic Poems
Richard North
5. Joyous Play and Bitter Tears: the Riddles and the Elegies
Jennifer Neville
6. The Dream of the Rood and Anglo-Saxon Northumbria
Éamonn Ó Carragáin and Richard North
7. Cædmon the Cowherd and Old English Biblical Verse
Bryan W. Wyly
8. Monasteries and Courts: Alcuin and Offa
Andy Orchard
9. Old English Prose: King Alfred and his books
Susan Irvine
10. The Old English Language
Peter S. Baker
11. Viking Wars and The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Jayne Carroll
Including Notes on the Old Norse Language by Richard North
12. Viking Religion: Old Norse Mythology
Terry Gunnell
13. Sagas of the Icelanders
Joe Allard
14. Prose Writers of the English Benedictine Reform
Stewart Brookes
15. Anglo-Norman Literature: the Road to Middle English
Patricia Gillies
Epilogue: The End of Old English? David Crystal
- Cfp On Late Old English Verse
Late Old English Verse This session focuses on Old English poetry datable to between c. 950 and 1150. Many of these poems are embedded in late annals in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; most of them were snubbed by being excluded from volume 6 of the Anglo-Saxon...
- Conference: The Dating Of Beowulf: A Reassessment
Conference: The Dating of Beowulf: A Reassessment Location: Harvard University Date: September 23-24, 2011 Contact: [email protected] The dating of Beowulf is one of the most controversial and pressing issues in Anglo-Saxon studies. It has animated...
- Making Sense: Constructing Meaning In Early English
MAKING SENSE: CONSTRUCTING MEANING IN EARLY ENGLISH edited by Antonette diPaolo Healey and Kevin Kiernan. Publications of the Dictionary of Old English 7 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 2007). xii, 138 pages. ISBN 978-0-88844-907-8...
- New Books Of Interest
1. John D. Niles, Old English Enigmatic Poems and the Play of the Texts SEM 13 (October 2006) XVI+332 p., 8 b/w ill., 160 x 240 mm, 2006, Hardback ISBN 978-2-503-51530-4, EUR 60.00 This book consists of a close study of a number of verse texts chiefly...
- Books
JRR Tolkien was a medieval enthusiast. He studied and taught on a lot on medieval texts, mythologies and languages. His fiction is saturated with it, using heroic types and tales, riddles, mythological creatures, and even semantics. In his most...