Old English literature
Subtitle: a guide to criticism, with selected readings
By: John D. Niles
Contributors: Niles, John D.
Edition: 1
Series: Blackwell guides to criticism
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Published: 2016
Place of publication: West Sussex; Malden, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9780631220565; 9780631220572
Subjects: Criticism; English literature; LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Theory; History and criticism; History
Description: "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"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.