New Readings in the Vercelli Book (Toronto Anglo-Saxon Series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080209869X ISBN 13: 9780802098696

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2009

Synopsis

The late tenth-century Vercelli Book (Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare CXVII) contains one of the earliest surviving collections of homilies and poetry in the English language. The manuscript's combination of poetry and homiletic prose has generated intense scholarly debate, and there is no consensus concerning the original purpose of the compiler.

New Readings in the Vercelli Book addresses central questions concerning the manuscript's intended use, mode of compilation, and purpose, and offers a variety of approaches on such topics as orthography, style, genre, theme, and source-study. The contributors include some of the foremost Vercelli experts, as well as the two most recent editors of the homilies. The remarkable essays in this volume offer the first sustained literary analysis of both the poetry and prose texts of the Vercelli Book, providing important new perspectives on a dynamic and valuable historical document.

About this title

About the Authors

Samantha Zacher is a professor of English and medieval studies at Cornell University.

Andy Orchard is a professor of Old English at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080209869X
• ISBN 13: 9780802098696
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 464
• Editor: Zacher Samantha, Orchard Andy