The Textuality of Old English Poetry

by Carol Braun Pasternack

Overview

The modern reader knows Old English poetry as a discrete number of poems, set up and printed in units punctuated as modern sentences, and with titles inserted by modern editors. Carol Braun Pasternack constructs a reading of the poetry that takes into account the format of the verse as it exists in the manuscripts. In a detailed analysis, which takes up issues current in poststructuralist theory, she argues that the idea of "verse sequences" should replace the "poem" and "implied tradition" should replace the idea of "the author".

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521032704
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/23/2006
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England , #13
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

List of plates; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; 1. The textuality of Old English poetry; 2. The polyphony of The Wanderer; 3. Rhythm, repetition and traditional expression; 4. The designs of syntax, modes of thought and the author question; 5. Borders and time; 6. Conditions of coherence; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...a significant contribution to the theoretical discussion about the nature of Old English texts. Complexity and detail of argument make it most suitable for graduate students, researches, and faculty with good knowledge of Old English." Choice

"In addition to its impressively thorough analyses of Old English verbal and syntactic patterns, however, The Textuality of Old English Poetry not only suggests ways that scholars can productively use contemporary critical theory to enrich our understanding of Anglo-Saxon literature; it also points to ways that Anglo-Saxon literature can shape our ideas about such supposedly contemporary issues as authorship, textuality, and subjectivity." Envoi

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