The Cambridge Introduction to Anglo-Saxon Literature

Introducing Anglo-Saxon literature in an approachable way, this is an indispensable guide for students to a key literary topic.

Hugh Magennis (Author)

9780521734653, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 16 June 2011

232 pages, 12 b/w illus. 4 maps
22.8 x 15.4 x 1 cm, 0.37 kg

'Hugh Magennis has produced a book that will be extremely useful to any new student or general reader of Anglo-Saxon literature.' Jennifer S. Key, Notes and Queries

An approachable and stimulating introduction to Anglo-Saxon literature, this book provides indispensable guidance for students on this important and rewarding area of literary studies. The chapters are clearly organized by topic and significant attention is paid to key individual works, including Beowulf, The Seafarer and writings by Bede. All textual quotations are translated into Modern English, with the original language texts carefully explained. The Introduction synthesizes and develops dominant approaches to Anglo-Saxon literature today, integrating Old English and Latin traditions, and placing the literature in larger historical and theoretical contexts. The structure, style and layout are attractive and user-friendly, including illustrative figures and textboxes, and Magennis provides guidance on resources for studying Anglo-Saxon literature, informing the reader of opportunities for investigating the subject further. Overall, the book enables a thorough understanding and appreciation of artful and eloquent works from a distant past, which still speak powerfully to people today.

1. Approaching Anglo-Saxon literature
2. Literary traditions
3. Varieties of narrative
4. Belief, knowledge, experience: some non-narrative strands
5. Anglo-Saxon afterlives, medieval to modern: later uses and appropriations of Anglo-Saxon writings
Appendix: resources for studying Anglo-Saxon literature, Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], Literary companions, book reviews & guides [DSRC], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]