In recent years Anglo-Saxonist scholars have widened the scope of their studies to include not only various aspects of Anglo-Saxon society and literature, but also, selfquestioningly, their own discipline. Through an in-depth study of the scholarship on "The Wife's Lament" and "Wulf and Eadwacer", this thesis examines the roles of these scholars in the critical history of the two poems. The poems are two of the most haunting and at the same time cryptic texts of the entire Old English corpus. Because of these characteristics, the research they inspire is wide-ranging, imaginative and sometimes provocative. The thesis focuses mainly on two aspects of scholarly research: the emergence of a professional identity among Anglo-Saxonist scholars and their choice of either a metaphoric or metonymic approach to the material. A final chapter studies the concomitant changes within Old English feminist studies.
Author(s): Berit Åström
Series: Skrifter från moderna språk, 5
Publisher: Umeå universitet
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 152
Acknowledgments 9
Introduction 10
The framework of tradition in Old English studies 11
Previous research 14
A brief history of Old English studies 18
Theoretical background 24
Chapter one: tools and terms 29
Metaphor, metonymy and anamorphosis 29
Identity 31
Alterity 33
Chapter two: Old English poetry and Anglo-Saxonist scholarship 39
Old English poetry, problems and opportunities 39
Determining the text 41
The canonical nature of Anglo-Saxon scholarship 45
The poems 47
Wulf and Eadwacer 48
The Wife's Lament 52
Chapter three: identity construction 58
Professional identities within Old English studies 58
Identity construction in the past 60
Identity construction in the present 62
Previous research into identity construction 65
Constructions of a professional identity through 'Wife' and 'Wulf' 68
Identity through religion and ancestry 68
Identity through continuity 74
Identity construction through alterity 77
Chapter four: metaphoric and metonymic readings 81
Closing or opening the system 81
Metaphoric readings of 'Wife' and 'Wulf' 83
Search for related texts 83
Substitution of cultures 87
Metonymic readings of 'Wife' and 'Wulf' 89
Cross-cultural interpretations 89
Chapter five: feminist studies 94
Feminism in medieval studies 94
Authorship and representation 97
Essentialist feminist approaches to Old English literature 98
Theoretically-informed feminist research 104
Gendered voices and textual femininity 105
Frauenlieder 107
Conclusion 114
Coda 117
Whither research in Old English poetry? 117
Further research 118
Appendix 120
Wulf and Eadwacer 120
The Wife's Lament 121
Appendix II 123
Bibliography of texts on 'The Wife's Lament' and 'Wulf and Eadwacer' 123
General bibliography 129
Works cited 129
Works consulted 142
Index of names 147
