Editorial Reviews. Review. "Now the oldest English texts have a literary history for the twenty-first century. One of the chief virtues of A History of Old English.
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- A History of Old English Literature by Robert D. Fulk
- A History of Old English Literature
- Editorial Reviews
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When you click on a Sponsored Product ad, you will be taken to an Amazon detail page where you can learn more about the product and purchase it. To learn more about Amazon Sponsored Products, click here. One of the chief virtues of A History ofOld English Literature is the rich elaboration of contexts,extending from the manuscripts to the literary and intellectualworld of Anglo-Saxon England, to the early modern criticism, and tothe most recent critical reception.
Recent years have witnessed renewed emphasis on historicism in medieval studies.
This timely introduction responds to that trend, focusing on the production and reception of Old English texts, and on their relation to Anglo-Saxon history and culture. The book presents a wider range of material than is usual in English literary histories. It not only covers an intriguing range of genres, from riddles and cryptograms to allegory and romance, but into this coverage it also integrates discussion of Anglo-Latin texts which are crucial to understanding the development of Old English literature.
Its extensive bibliographical coverage of scholarship devotes special attention to studies of the past 15 years, while a retrospective section outlines the reception of the Anglo-Saxons and their literature in later periods. Throughout their narrative, the authors champion Anglo-Saxon studies, contending that it is uniquely placed to contribute to current debates about literature's relation to history and culture.
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A History of Old English Literature by Robert D. Fulk
Learn more about Amazon Prime. This timely introduction to Old English literature focuses on theproduction and reception of Old English texts, and on theirrelation to Anglo-Saxon history and culture. Introduces Old English texts and considers their relation toAnglo-Saxon culture. Responds to renewed emphasis on historical and culturalcontexts in the field of medieval studies. Treats virtually the entire range of textual types preserved inOld English. Considers the production, reception and uses of Old Englishtexts.
Integrates the Anglo-Latin backgrounds crucial to understandingOld English literature.
A History of Old English Literature
Offers very extensive bibliographical guidance. Demonstrates that Anglo-Saxon studies is uniquely placed tocontribute to current literary debates. Read more Read less. Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. An Introduction Toronto Anglo-Saxon. Sponsored products related to this item What's this? Join the beautiful Beth Cunningham during the days leading up to the Jacobite Rebellion of and her fight for survival in this historical romance. London Road Linked Stories: A collection of linked stories as told by the residents of Number 17, London Road, illuminating a little-known side of Europe's most beautiful city.
Editorial Reviews
The Inklings and King Arthur: Tolkien, Charles Williams, C. King Arthur returns in the writings of Oxford Inklings.
This volume follows Arthurian leylines in geographies of myth, history, gender, and culture. Fulk and Christopher M. Cain is an overview of the existing corpus of Old English literature and its social and material context. The authors begin by introducing the reader to the landscape of Old English literature, and they attempt to lay out specific periods of Anglo-Saxon literary production, ranging from the pre-Christian period, through the Alfredian period, to the decades after the Norman Conquest.
Specifically, the authors are interested in impressing upon the reader how different the experience of reading was in Anglo-Saxon culture. From the production of texts to the consumption of those texts, every step of the process was different from the way in which we, as contemporary readers, interact with the written word. This theme of difference is central from the first page of the Introduction to the last page of the Conclusion.
Each chapter of the text is devoted to various selections of Old English literature, categorized by theme. In these chapters, the authors contextualize the works and they are careful to note their continental or native insular influences. Anglo-Saxon studies originated for overtly political, nationalistic purposes, but, as the authors argue, the study has developed into a much more objective, scholarly pursuit.
That does not mean that Anglo-Saxon studies is not still a problematic field. As the authors argue, the study of Old English literature is troublesome because it resists the critical apparatus of literary studies born of the New Criticism movement. It shows us how that consciousness is so radically different from the contemporary scholastic mind. The authors argue that Anglo-Saxon texts do not seem to be capable of being understood by the terms of Freudian, Lacanian, Derridean, or feminist discourse.
Old English texts simply do not mean in the same way that postmedieval texts mean. The point that Fulk and Cain make clear is that Anglo-Saxon literature is different. It is marginal, essentially, because it does not—cannot—conform to modern sensibilities and contemporary critical understanding. This does not mean that Anglo-Saxon studies have no value to us. Quite the opposite, indeed, the authors assure us that the study of Old English holds a great deal of weight, and an effort to understand it can be incredibly valuable. As the authors state in the final sentence of the book: This is quite a remarkable idea.
Old English literature cannot conform to the orthodox dialectic of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis that forms the dominant aspect of literary studies.
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The center of Old English literature is not the same center we experience in postmedieval literature, and this is thanks to the orality of Old English literature. Meaning in Old English literature does not center on the cult of the author, instead, meaning is not centered in Old English literature at all.
Meaning, in Old English literature is centered on a communal cultural system of common meaning that persists into the Old English literature that represents a literary sensibility that persists from Germanic oral culture, but it is a sensibility that is radically foreign to a literary sensibility. Ratiocination rated it really liked it Aug 01, Yuli Myesha rated it liked it Sep 18, Sadeq HB rated it really liked it Sep 19, Matt rated it it was amazing May 15, Frances rated it it was amazing Mar 23, Jennifer rated it really liked it Jun 11, Carl Lund rated it liked it Jun 09, Beth rated it it was ok Jun 25, Nate rated it really liked it Oct 21, Kiernan rated it it was amazing Apr 07, Inna marked it as to-read Jan 22, Sam added it Sep 06, ZITA added it Dec 26, Amy marked it as to-read Feb 19, Diane added it Mar 01, Brittany marked it as to-read Apr 30, Deannie marked it as to-read Jan 20, Pat Naeve added it Aug 10, Evy marked it as to-read Aug 14, Farhan Yousaf added it Sep 23, Dora marked it as to-read Nov 02, Gergely is currently reading it Nov 12, Janie marked it as to-read Feb 26, Sparrow Alden marked it as to-read Dec 04,