|
COPYRIGHT 2004 Modern Humanities Research Association
A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature. Ed. by PHILLIP PULSIANO and ELAINE TREHARNE. (Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture) Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell. 2001. xviii+529 pp. 80 [pounds sterling]; $124.95. ISBN 0-631-20904-2.
Satan Unbound: The Devil in Old English Narrative Literature. By PETER DENDLE. Toronto, Buffalo, NY, and London: University of Toronto Press. 2001. xiii+ 196 pp. $50; 30 [pounds sterling] (pbk $22.95;12 [pounds sterling]). ISBN 0-8020-4839-0 (pbk 0-8020-8396-2).
Two books, two indices as to the health of a discipline: in a sense, the books under review represent different ends of Anglo-Saxon studies. The Companion is self-consciously oriented to teaching, to introducing the neophyte and non-specialist to the best the field currently offers, rather than breaking new ground as a primary goal. As a scholarly monograph (an endangered species, given the state of university presses), Satan Unbound represents what new questions and answers the field is producing.
The Blackwell Companions focus on 'orienting the beginning student in new fields of study and providing the experienced undergraduate and new graduate student with current and new directions, as pioneered and developed by leading scholars in the field'. In Anglo-Saxon studies, this type of introduction/summation/state-of-the-field project is currently a growth area: M. Lapidge and M. Godden, The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); H. Aertsen and R. Bremmer, Companion to Old English Poetry (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1994); R. Bjork and J. Niles, A 'Beowulf' Handbook (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997); M. Lapidge and others, The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford and Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1999); M. Alexander, A...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
