Università Roma Tre

Hybridization of genres and blending of styles in Anglo-Saxon literature

The course aims to highlight the coexistence of features belonging to different genres in the same work. The Old English poem The Dream of the Rood, because of the intertwining of stylistic and thematic features belonging to elegies, visions, and riddles, will be the starting point for the analysis of a variety of works composed in the Anglo-Saxon period (including Beowulf, Wanderer, Exeter Book riddles, religious poetry).
Philological, linguistic and literary issues will be addressed, focusing on the peculiarities of Anglo-Saxon production, its relationship to other texts in the Latin and Germanic traditions, and the ways in which motifs derived from these traditions are used.
Investigations and presentations, either individual or in groups, are planned on some of the aspects dealt with in the course of the lessons.

Students are strongly advised to attend the course. Non-attending students are requested to contact the lecturer at the beginning of the course.

Texts:
- B. Mitchell – F. C. Robinson, A guide to Old English, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2008, 7th ed.
- Krapp, George Philip and Dobbie, Elliott Van Kirkhe, Anglo-Saxon poetic records: a collective edition, 6 voll., New York: Columbia University Press1931-1953.
- The Complete Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Poetry (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/)

History of Old English Literature.
One of the following texts:
- F. C. Robinson, Old English, in B. Murdoch - M. Read (edd.), Early Germanic Literature and Culture, Camden House, Rochester-New York 2004, pp. 205-233.
- M. Francini, La letteratura anglosassone, in M. Battaglia (ed.), Le civiltà letterarie del Medioevo germanico, Carocci, Roma 2017, pp. 137-276.
- S. B. Greenfield and D.G. Calder, A New Critical History of Old English Literature, New York and Londob: New York University Press 1986.
- M. Godden-M. Lapidge, The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1991.



Old English Grammars.
One of the following texts:
- B. Mitchell - F. C. Robinson, A Guide to Old English, Blackwell, Oxford 2008.
- R. Lass, Old English: a Historical Linguistic Companion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993.
- G. Mazzuoli Porru, Manuale di inglese antico, Giardini, Pisa 1992.

Textual criticism:
- A.M. Luiselli Fadda, Tradizioni manoscritte e critica del testo nel Medioevo germanico, Laterza, Bari-Roma 2010 (Parte I).

A variety of additional materials (critical editions, glossaries, critical essays etc.) will be provided during the course.
Students are advised to attend classes. Those who cannot attend them are requested to contact the teacher at the beginning of the course.