| The Dating of Beowulf Contributor(s): Chase, Colin (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0802078796 ISBN-13: 9780802078797 Publisher: University of Toronto Press OUR PRICE: $39.85 Product Type: Paperback Published: May 1997 Annotation: "The Date of Beowulf", Debated for Almost a Century, is a small question with large consequences. Does the poem provide us with an accurate if idealized view of early Germanic culture? Or is it rather a creature of nostalgia and imagination, born of the desire of a later age to create for itself a glorious past? If we cannot decide when, between the fifth and eleventh centuries, the poem was composed, we cannot distinguish what elements in Beowulf belong properly to the history of material culture, to the history of myth and legend, to political history, or to the development of the English literary imagination. This book represents both individual and concerted attempts to deal with this important question, and presents one of the most important inconclusions in the study of Old English. The contributors raise so many doubts, turn up so much new and disturbing information, dismantle so many long-accepted scholarly constructs that Beowulf studies will never be the same: henceforth every discussion of the poem and its period will begin with reference to this volume. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Poetry - Literary Criticism | Medieval - Literary Criticism | English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh |
| Dewey: 829.3 |
| LCCN: 97179838 |
| Series: Toronto Old English Studies |
| Physical Information: 0.69" H x 6.78" W x 9.78" (0.99 lbs) 230 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Medieval (500-1453) - Cultural Region - British Isles |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The date of Beowulf, debated for almost a century, is a small question with large consequences. Does the poem provide us with an accurate if idealized view of early Germanic culture? Or is it rather a creature of nostalgia and imagination, born of the desire of a later age to create for itself a glorious past? If we cannot decide when, between the 5th and 11th centuries, the poem was composed, we cannot distinguish what elements in Beowulf belong properly to the history of material culture, to the history of myth and legend, to political history, or to the development of the English literary imagination. This book represents both individual and concerted attempts to deal with this important question, and presents one of the most important inconclusions in the study of Old English. The contributors raise so many doubts, turn up so much new and disturbing information, dismantle so many long-accepted scholarly constructs that Beowulf studies will never be the same: henceforth every discussion of the poem and its period will begin with reference to this volume. |
Contributor Bio(s): Chase, Colin: - The late Colin Chase (1935-1984) was a member of the Department of English and of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. |