Isidorean Perceptions of Order: The Exeter Book Riddles and Medieval Latin Enigmata (Medieval European Studies Series) - Softcover

Mercedes Salvador-Bello (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1935978519 ISBN 13: 9781935978510

Publisher: West Virginia University Press, 2015

Synopsis

This book discusses the considerable influence exerted by Isidore's Etymologiaeon upon the compilation of early medieval enigmata. Either in the form of thematic clusters or pairs, Isidorean encyclopedic patterns are observed not only in major Latin riddle collections in verse but can also be detected in the two vernacular assemblages contained in the Exeter Book. As with encyclopedias, the topic-centered arrangement of riddles was pursued by compilers as a strategy intended to optimize the didactic and instructional possibilities inherent in these texts and favor the reader' assimilation of their contents. This book thus provides a thoroughgoing investigation of medieval riddling, with special attention to the Exeter Book Riddles, demonstrating that this genre constituted an important part of the school curriculum of the early Middle Ages.

About this title

About the Author

Mercedes Salvador-Bello is Associate Professor of English at the Universidad de Sevilla, Spain where she teaches, among other subjects, Anglo-Saxon literature. Her research interests include Anglo-Saxon and Insular Latin literature with a particular focus on the Exeter Book, the Old English Riddles, and Latin enigmata. She is coeditor of SELIM, Journal of the Spanish Society for the Study of English Language and Literature.

From the Back Cover

This book discusses the considerable influence exerted by Isidore's Etymologiae on the compilation of early medieval enigmata. Either in the form of thematic clusters or pairs, Isidorean encyclopedic patterns are observed not only in major Latin riddle collections in verse but can also be detected in the two vernacular assemblages contained in the Exeter Book.

As with encyclopedias, the topic-centered arrangement of riddles was pursued by compilers as a strategy intended to optimize the didactic and instructional possibilities inherent in these texts and favor the readers' assimilation of their contents. This book thus provides a thoroughgoing investigation of medieval riddling, with special attention to the Exeter Book Riddles, demonstrating that this genre constituted an important part of the school curriculum of the early Middle Ages.

Edition details

• Publisher: West Virginia University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1935978519
• ISBN 13: 9781935978510
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 546