Alfredian Prologues and Epilogues

Download or read book Alfredian Prologues and Epilogues written by Susan Irvine and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-11-30 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Old English literary works traditionally associated with King Alfred are furnished with an array of prologues, epilogues, and other frame texts. These texts give fascinating glimpses into the ideas and contexts underlying the composition and reception of the Alfredian corpus. They draw attention to the ways in which authority and authorship interacted in the period and to contemporary perceptions of poetry and prose. This new edition addresses the contextual, critical, and theoretical issues raised by the frame texts, including their relationship to earlier traditions of prologue and epilogue, their engagement with English as a literary language, and their implications for the authorship debate. The texts are edited here for the first time in a single volume, with a facing-page modern English translation and a wide range of explanatory material.