A Beowulf Handbook by Robert E. Bjork and John D. Niles
1998; Scriptoriun Press; Volume: 8; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/art.1998.0013
ISSN1934-1539
Autores Tópico(s)Medieval Literature and History
Resumoreviews143 reference to parallel evidence from nearby Dorchester-on-Thamcs, which Sonia Chadwick Hawes has proposed as the possible seat ofa late Romano-British prince supported by Saxon mercenaries (see her Chapter 6 in Archaeology ofthe Oxford Region, Grace Briggs, Jean Cook, and Trevor Rowley, eds.: Oxford U.P., 1986). It is pleasant to reflect that the tapid progress of British archeology makes an occasional assessment of Snyder's no longer accurate (certainly through no fault of his own). The most striking instance may well be the announcement in the summer of1997 ofthe spectaculat discovery ofa hoard offifth-century gold coins in Sussex, which requires emendation of his remark on p. 7 of the prolegomenous Part I that 'Britain betrays a unique pattern ofhoarding, for gold coins are almost nonexistent, while silver and bronze boards are quite numerous.' It is safe to suppose that the author will amend that judgment soon in subsequent editions of this very handy compendium. JEREMY duQ. ADAMS Southern Methodist University Robert E. bjork and john D. niles, A BeowulfHandbook. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1977. Pp. 466. isbn: 0-8032-1237-2. $60. A BeowulfHandbook makes a timely, perhapscrucial appearance in an oddly inconstant age for Old English studies. The first-rank essayists of this collection honor the distinguished history of their field of inquiry even as they and their fellow AngloSaxonists are also retooling their field for rapidly expanding electronic scholarship. Taken collectively, the essays in this volume communicate the excitement of their moment. Ironically it is the same moment when many American graduate programs ofvarying distinction have marginalized Old English and scholarly study ofBeowulf. As a result, too many English departments teach a drasticallyabridged literary tradition that offers diminished opportunity for growth ofindividual talent. If, as it seems, the energy to reverse this bad direction must come from the field ofOld English studies itself, then no casebook on Beowulfcould be bettersuited than this one to that present need. Above all, the editorial plan for this book is to be admited for its comprehensiveness. Its eighteen chapters review Beowulfscholarship since Thorkelin in clearly focused, strongly complementary, minimally redundant areas: 'truth and meaning' in the poem (by Niles); dating, provenance, authorship, and the question ofaudience (Bjotk and Anita Obermeier); textual criticism (R.D. FuIk); prosody (Robert P. Stockwell and Donka Minkova); diction, variation, and nature and function ofthe fomula (Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe); rhetoric and style (Utsula Schaefer); sources and analogues (Theodore M. Andersson); structure and unity (Thomas B. Shippey); Christian and pagan elements (Edward B. Irving Jr.); digressions and episodes (Bjork); myth and history (Niles); symbolism and allegory (Alvin A. Lee); social milieu (John M. Hill); hero and theme (George Clark); archaeological context (Catherine M. Hills); gender roles (Alexandra Hennessey Olsen); contemporary critical approaches (Seth Lerer); 144arthuriana translations and artistic responses (Marijane Osborn). This vast, thoughtfully ordered coverage of Beowulf leaves little to be wished for except, perhaps, a chapter on the newelectronicscholarship, whoseyoungbut fast-growinghistoryand future directions could and should be conveniently overviewed in print in just such a volume as this. A survey ofinterpretations ofBeowulfzs literary art can be gleaned piecemeal from various essays in the collection, but for the sake ofcompleteness a chapter focused on that subject would have been useful as well. These seem to me to be significant oversights in the general plan, yet one must also acknowledge a paradox here: it is the very fullness ofthe achievement that calls attention to its own relatively small defects. A related achievement, for which the ptess editors no doubt deserve some collaborative credit, is the sage choice offormat. Each chapter is headed by a convenient annotated chronology ofscholarship in its subject: the book is immensely the more valuable for that feature alone. The essays themselves are of virtually consistent excellence: readable, concise, detailed and thorough, referenced in unobtrusive inttatextual MLA style with notes ofwelcome leanness at chapters' ends. At the back of the book is the collected bibliogrphy of works cited, both the logical and the handy choice to have made, sufficiently inclusive for all but the most highlyspecialized tesearch while also of manageable size for students. There is a well-prepared and exhaustive index. The end result is...
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