Old English literature : a guide to criticism with selected readings / John D. Niles.

"Old English Literature is the first book to review the critical reception of the field from 1900 to the present. Moving beyond a focus on individual literary texts, the book presents ample coverage of the different schools, methods, and assumptions that have affected the discipline over the years. It examines notable works and authors from the period, including Beowulf, the Venerable Bede, heroic poems, and devotional literature. It also uses excerpts from ten critical studies to reinforce key perspectives and methods introduced within the text. The book addresses the complex questions of medieval literacy, textuality, and orality, as well as issues of style, gender, genre, and theme. It embraces the interdisciplinary nature of the field with references to historical studies, religious studies, anthropology, art history, and much more. Drawing on over a century's worth of scholarly work, this is an essential guide to the factors that have shaped the modern critical reception of the earliest English literature"-- Provided by publisher.

Title Page ; Copyright Page; Contents; Preface and Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Part I Main Currents in Twentieth-Century Criticism ; Chapter 1 Old English Studies 1901-1975 ; The Earlier Twentieth Century; Literary Criticism: A Slow Start; Two Scholars Representative of their Eras; New Directions after the Second World War; Changing Currents in Beowulf Studies; Key Works from the Early Seventies; For Further Reading; Part II Anglo-Saxon Lore and Learning ; Chapter 2 Literacy and Latinity ; Anglo-Latin Literature: Background or Mainstream? ; Education in Two Languages

The Student in the ClassroomThe Venerable Bede; A Selection from the Criticism; For Further Reading ; Joyce Hill, 'Learning Latin in Anglo-Saxon England: Traditions, Textsand Techniques' (2003) ; Chapter 3 Textuality and Cultural Transformations ; The Anglo-Saxon Book: Icon or Pragmatic Object? ; Writerly Self-Reflexivity ; Reading Old English Texts in their Manuscript Context; Authors and Scribes: The Flux of Texts; From Latin to Old English: Translation or Transformation?; Source Studies and the Culture of Translation; A Selection from the Criticism; For Further Reading

M.B. Parkes, 'The Palaeography of the Parker Manuscript of theChronicle, Laws, and Sedulius, and Historiography at Winchester in theLate Ninth and Tenth Centuries' (1976) Chapter 4 Orality ; Parry, Lord, and their Legacy; Oral Poetics and Noetics; A Selection from the Criticism; For Further Reading; Donald K. Fry, 'The Memory of Cædmon' (1981) ; Chapter 5 Heroic Tradition ; Short Poems on Legendary Themes; Brunanburh, Maldon, and the Critics; Beowulf and the Critics; Indeterminacy and its Discontents; A Selection from the Criticism; For Further Reading

Ernst Leisi, 'Gold and Human Worth in Beowulf ', first published as'Gold und Manneswert im Beowulf ' (1952) Part III Other Topics and Approaches; Chapter 6 Style ; A Selection from the Criticism; For Further Reading; J.R. Hall, 'Perspective and Wordplay in the Old EnglishRune Poem' (1977) ; Chapter 7 Theme ; A Selection from the Criticism; For Further Reading; Hugh Magennis, 'Images of Laughter in Old English Poetry, withParticular Reference to the Hleahtor Wera of The Seafarer' (1992) ; Chapter 8 Genre and Gender ; Genre; Gender; A Selection from the Criticism; For Further Reading

Lisa M.C. Weston, 'Women's Medicine, Women's Magic:The Old English Metrical Childbirth Charms' (1995) Chapter 9 Saints' Lives and Christian Devotion ; A Selection from the Criticism; For Further Reading; Edward B. Irving, Jr, 'Crucifixion Witnessed, or Dramatic Interactionin The Dream of the Rood' (1986) ; Chapter 10 Ælfric ; A Selection from the Criticism; For Further Reading; Malcolm Godden, 'Apocalypse and Invasion in Late Anglo- SaxonEngland' (1994) ; Chapter 11 Translating, Editing, and Making it New ; Translating; Editing; Making it New; A Selection from the Criticism