The Cambridge Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature (Cambridge Introductions to Literature)
Cambridge University Press, 6/16/2011
EAN 9780521734653, ISBN10: 0521734657
Paperback, 232 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm
Language: English
An approachable and stimulating introduction to Anglo-Saxon literature, this book provides indispensable guidance for students on this important and rewarding area of literary studies. The chapters are clearly organized by topic and significant attention is paid to key individual works, including Beowulf, The Seafarer and writings by Bede. All textual quotations are translated into Modern English, with the original language texts carefully explained. The Introduction synthesizes and develops dominant approaches to Anglo-Saxon literature today, integrating Old English and Latin traditions, and placing the literature in larger historical and theoretical contexts. The structure, style and layout are attractive and user-friendly, including illustrative figures and textboxes, and Magennis provides guidance on resources for studying Anglo-Saxon literature, informing the reader of opportunities for investigating the subject further. Overall, the book enables a thorough understanding and appreciation of artful and eloquent works from a distant past, which still speak powerfully to people today.
1. Approaching Anglo-Saxon literature
2. Literary traditions
3. Varieties of narrative
4. Belief, knowledge, experience
some non-narrative strands
5. Anglo-Saxon afterlives, medieval to modern
later uses and appropriations of Anglo-Saxon writings
Appendix
resources for studying Anglo-Saxon literature, Bibliography.