The Bible played a crucial role in shaping Anglo-Saxon national and cultural identity. However, access to Biblical texts was necessarily limited to very few individuals in Medieval England. In this book, Samantha Zacher explores how the very earliest English Biblical poetry creatively adapted, commented on and spread Biblical narratives and traditions to the wider population. Systematically surveying the manuscripts of surviving poems, the book shows how these vernacular poets commemorated the Hebrews as God's 'chosen people' and claimed the inheritance of that status for Anglo-Saxon England. Drawing on contemporary translation theory, the book undertakes close readings of the poems Exodus, Daniel and Judith in order to examine their methods of adaptation for their particular theologico-political circumstances and the way they portray and problematize Judaeo-Christian religious identities.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Continuum Publishing Corporation
ISBN-10
1441185607
ISBN-13
9781441185600
eBay Product ID (ePID)
189256889
Dimensions
Weight
261g
Height
216mm
Width
138mm
Additional Product Features
Place of Publication
NY
Spine
13mm
Series Title
New Directions in Religion and Literature
Content Note
Black & White Illustrations
Author Biography
Samantha Zacher is Associate Professor of English at Cornell University, USA. She is the author of Preaching the Converted: the Style and Rhetoric of the Vercelli Book Homilies (2009), and co-editor with Andy Orchard of New Readings in the Vercelli Book (2009).
