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Print Price: $153.99

Format:
Paperback
412 pp.
8pp halftone plates, 138 mm x 216 mm

ISBN-13:
9780199261635

Copyright Year:
2005

Imprint: OUP UK

Readings in Medieval Texts

Interpreting Old and Middle English Literature

Edited by David F. Johnson and Elaine Treharne

Readings in Medieval Texts offers a thorough and accessible introduction to the interpretation and criticism of a broad range of Old and Middle English canonical texts from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. The volume brings together 24 newly commissioned chapters by a leading international team of medieval scholars.

An introductory chapter highlights the overarching trends in the composition of English Literature in the Medieval periods, and provides an overview of the textual continuities and innovations. Individual chapters give detailed information about context, authorship, date, and critical views on texts, before providing fascinating and thought-provoking examinations of crucial excerpts and themes.

This book will be invaluable for undergraduate and graduate students on all courses in Medieval Studies, particularly those focusing on understanding literature and its role in society.

Readership : Undergraduate and graduate students in the UK, US and ROW studying medieval literature.

David F. Johnson and Elaine Treharne: Introduction
1. Elaine Treharne: The context of medieval literature
2. Sarah Larratt Keefer: Old English religious poetry
3. Patrick Conner: The Old English elegy: an historicization
4. Jonathan Wilcox: 'Tell me what I am': the Old English riddles
5. Jill Frederick: Warring with words: Cynewulf's Juliana
6. Rolf H. Bremmer, Jr.: Old English heroic literature
7. Roy Liuzza: Beowulf: monuments, moments, history
8. Thomas A. Bredehoft: History and memory in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
9. Nicole Guenther Discenza: The persuasive power of Alfredian prose
10. Thomas N. Hall: Old English religious prose: rhetorics of salvation and damnation
11. Stacy S. Klein: Centralizing feminism in Anglo-Saxon Literary Studies: Elene, motherhood, and history
12. Thomas D. Hill: Wise words: Old English sapiental poetry
13. James H. Morey: Middle English didactic literature
14. Denis Renevey: Middle English writings for women: Ancrene Wisse
15. David F. Johnson: The Middle English Brut chronicles
16. Peter J. Lucas: Earlier verse romance
17. Alan J. Fletcher: Middle English debate literature
18. Mary Swan: Religious writing by Women
19. Michael W. Twomey: The Gawain-poet
20. Andrew Galloway: Middle English prologues
21. Anne Marie D'Arcy: The Middle English lyrics
22. William A. Quinn: Medieval dream visions: Chaucer's Book of the Duchess
23. Ad Putter: Late romance: Malory and the Tale of Balin
24. Nicola Royan: Scottish literature
25. Greg Walker: Medieval drama: the Corpus Christi in York and Croxton

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Elaine Treharne is Professor of Medieval Literature in the Department of English at the University of Leicester. She has published widely in the field of Medieval Literature and manuscript studies. She is currently Chair of the English Association, and member of its Fellowship and Higher Education Committees, and Second Vice-President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists. David F. Johnson is Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in the Humanities at FSU, and Executive Director of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists. He specializes in Medieval English, Latin, and Germanic literatures and has published extensively in these areas.

Making Sense - Margot Northey and Joan McKibbin

Special Features

First volume to combine close critical analysis of both Old and Middle English
Offers readings of a broad range of canonical and non-canonical texts, including poetic, dramatic and prose works
Places texts within their genre and context in a clear and accessible fashion
Allows students to develop skills of critical analysis directly applicable to an extensive range of texts