A Beowulf Handbook

The individual chapters by eighteen scholars offer both a rapid survey of scholarly trends in the study of Beowulf and a more sustained exploration of selected problems. Each chapter begins with a brief summary of its contents followed by an annotated chronology of the most important books and articles on the particular topic it treats. The core of each chapter constitutes a history of scholarly interest in the topic under consideration, a synthesis of present knowledge and opinion, and an analysis of scholarly work that remains to be done. All of the chapters have been written to accommodate the needs of a broad audience - from nonspecialists who wish simply to read and enjoy Beowulf to scholars at work on their own research.

The most revered work composed in Old English, Beowulf is one of the landmarks of European literature. This handbook supplies a wealth of insights into all major aspects of this wondrous poem and its scholarly tradition. Each chapter provides a history of the scholarly interest in a particular topic, a synthesis of present knowledge and opinion, and an analysis of scholarly work that remains to be done. Written to accommodate the needs of a broad audience, A Beowulf Handbook will be of value to nonspecialists who wish simply to read and enjoy Beowulf and to scholars at work on their own research. In its clear and comprehensive treatment of the poem and its scholarship, this book will prove an indispensable guide to readers and specialists for many years to come. Robert E. Bjork is a professor of English at Arizona State University. He is the author of The Old English Verse Saints' Lives: A Study in Direct Discourse and the Iconography of Style. John D. Niles is a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Beowulf: The Poem and Its Tradition.