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Childhood & Adolescence in Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture
Susan Irvine (Edited by), Winfried Rudolf (Edited by)
9781487502027
Hardback, published 1 April 2018
360 pages, 5 b&w tables
23.5 x 16 x 2.8 cm, 0.69 kg
"The introduction states that a major aim of the volume is to expand scholarly interest in children and childhood to earlier centuries by starting new conversations about their representation in Old English texts. The book achieves that aim: with the wide-ranging topics of the chapters, all readers will find something that provokes them to consider new discussion." "This essay collection fulfills the stated goal of its introduction, to ‘prompt further research and debate’ about childhood and adolescence in Anglo-Saxon literary culture."
Childhood & Adolescence in Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture counters the generally received wisdom that early medieval childhood and adolescence were an unremittingly bleak experience. The contributors analyse representations of children and their education in Old English, Old Norse and Anglo-Latin writings, including hagiography, heroic poetry, riddles, legal documents, philosophical prose and elegies. Within and across these linguistic and generic boundaries some key themes emerge: the habits and expectations of name-giving, expressions of childhood nostalgia, the role of uneducated parents, and the religious zeal and rebelliousness of youth. After decades of study dominated by adult gender studies, Childhood & Adolescence in Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture rebalances our understanding of family life in the Anglo-Saxon era by reconstructing the lives of medieval children and adolescents through their literary representation.
Introduction – Susan Irvine and Winfried Rudolf 1. Childhood and Adolescence: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Archaeological and Documentary Evidence – Sally Crawford 2. Naming Children in Anglo-Saxon England: Ethnic Identity and Cultural Change – Leonard Neidorf 3. Anglo-Saxon Preaching on Children – Winfried Rudolf 4. Tender Beginnings in the Exeter Book Riddles – Shu-han Luo 5. Parenting and Childhood in The Fortunes of Men – Stacy S. Klein 6. Children and the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons in Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum – Andreas Lemke 7. Childhood in the Lives of Anglo-Saxon Saints – Joyce Hill 8. Alcuin’s Educational Dispute: the Riddle of Teaching and the Teaching of Riddles – Andy Orchard 9. Foster-Relationships in the Old English Boethius – Susan Irvine 10. Hrothulf’s Childhood and Beowulf’s: a Comparison – Richard North 11. Of Boys and Men: Anglo-Saxon Literary Adaptations of the Book of Daniel – Daniel Anlezark 12. "Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth": Parent-Child Litigation in Anglo-Saxon England – Andrew Rabin