This is the first edition of Andreas for 55 years, also the first to present the Anglo-Saxon, or rather Old English, text with a parallel Modern English poetic translation. The book aims not only to provide both students and scholars with an up-to-date text and introduction and notes, but also to reconfirm the canonical merit of Andreas as one of the longest and most important works in Old English literature. The introduction to our text is substantial, re-positioning this poem in respect of nearly six decades’ progress in the palaeography, sources and analogues, language, metrics, literary criticism and archaeology of Andreas. The book argues that the poet was Mercian, that he was making ironic reference to Beowulf and that his story of St Andrew converting pagan Mermedonian cannibals was coloured by King Alfred’s wars against the Danes (871-9, 885-6, 892-6). Andreas is here dated to Alfred’s later reign with such analysis of contexts in history and ideology that the author’s name is also hypothesized. The Old English text and Modern English translation of Andreas are presented in a split-page format, allowing students at whatever level of familiarity with the Anglo-Saxon vernacular to gain a direct access to the poem in close to its original form. The translation follows the poem’s word order and style, allowing modern readers to feel the imagination, ideology and humour of Andreas as closely as possible. The text of the Old English poem is accompanied by a full set of supporting notes, and a glossary representing the translation.
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A new edition and translation of the Old English poem 'Andreas', with full introduction, notes, and glossary.
List of FiguresList of AbbreviationsIntroduction1. The Poem and its Analogues2. The Manuscript3. Language and DialectPhonologyVocabularyLinguistic conclusion4. Metre and Prosody5. Poetic StylePoetic allusions to CynewulfPoetic allusions to Beowulf6. MermedoniaBoundaries and meeting-placesBurial moundsPagan sites and Christian churchesRoman spolia and the Mermedonian prisonPathways in AndreasMermedonia as a Roman cityMermedonia as a WS burhSummary7. Date and AuthorshipAnti-Danish animusWS royal patronageAlfred’s church of St AndrewAlfred’s ‘wealth’ and ‘wisdom’Note on the Text and TranslationText and TranslationList of EmendationsCommentaryBibliographyGlossaryList of Proper NamesIndex
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Reviews 'Two major critical editions of [Andreas] were published during the twentieth century [...] but the new edition from Richard North and Michael D.J. Bintley is sure to displace them and become the standard edition cited in professional scholarship. An extraordinary amount of labor appears to have been invested in this massive work, which offers much more than its predecessors. […] An infectious enthusiasm for the poem and its possible connections to Anglo-Saxon intellectual and material culture pervades the book and is bound to spread to some of its readers. North and Bintley’s rich edition should stimulate a wave of new interpretations of Andreas and inspire new investigations into its date of composition and historical context. It is in many respects an exemplary edition, which could serve as a model for new editions of other Old English poems that have been satisfactorily edited before.' Leonard Neidorf, Studia Neophilologica, June 2017
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781781382714
Publisert
2016-01-20
Utgiver
Vendor
Liverpool University Press
Høyde
239 mm
Bredde
163 mm
Aldersnivå
UP, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
392

Biographical note

Professor Richard North teaches at University College London. His previous publications include The Origins of ‘Beowulf’: From Vergil to Wiglaf (Oxford University Press, 2006). Michael D. J. Bintley is Lecturer in Early Medieval Literature and Culture at Birkbeck, University of London, and author of Trees in the Religions of Early Medieval England (Boydell and Brewer, 2015).