LEADER 04167nam 2200637 450 001 9910792951603321 005 20240117141405.0 010 $a1-5017-0827-9 010 $a1-5017-0828-7 024 7 $a10.7591/9781501708282 035 $a(CKB)3710000001387939 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC4865271 035 $a(StDuBDS)EDZ0001804028 035 $a(OCoLC)956530373 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse57149 035 $a(DLC) 2016037074 035 $a(DE-B1597)492924 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781501708282 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL4865271 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr11389781 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL1012458 035 $a(PPN)229515738 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000001387939 100 $a20170620h20172017 uy p 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $2rdacontent 182 $2rdamedia 183 $2rdacarrier 200 14$aThe transmission of Beowulf $elanguage, culture, and scribal behavior /$fLeonard Neidorf 210 1$aIthaca, New York ;$aLondon, [England] :$cCornell University Press,$d2017. 210 4$dİ2017 215 $a1 online resource (203 pages) $cillustrations (some color) 225 1 $aMyth and Poetics ;$v2 300 $aPreviously issued in print: 2017. 311 $a1-5017-0511-3 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and indexes. 327 $tFrontmatter --$tCONTENTS --$tILLUSTRATIONS --$tSERIES FOREWORD /$rNagy, Gregory --$tPREFACE --$tACKNOWLEDGMENTS --$tABBREVIATIONS --$t1. Introduction --$t2. Language History --$t3. Cultural Change --$t4. Scribal Behavior --$t5. Conclusion --$tAppendix --$tGLOSSARY OF TERMS --$tBIBLIOGRAPHY --$tINDEX OF VERSES --$tINDEX OF SUBJECTS 330 $aBeowulf, like The Iliad and The Odyssey, is a foundational work of Western literature that originated in mysterious circumstances. In The Transmission of "Beowulf," Leonard Neidorf addresses philological questions that are fundamental to the study of the poem. Is Beowulf the product of unitary or composite authorship? How substantially did scribes alter the text during its transmission, and how much time elapsed between composition and preservation?Neidorf answers these questions by distinguishing linguistic and metrical regularities, which originate with the Beowulf poet, from patterns of textual corruption, which descend from copyists involved in the poem's transmission. He argues, on the basis of archaic features that pervade Beowulf and set it apart from other Old English poems, that the text preserved in the sole extant manuscript (ca. 1000) is essentially the work of one poet who composed it circa 700. Of course, during the poem's written transmission, several hundred scribal errors crept into its text. These errors are interpreted in the central chapters of the book as valuable evidence for language history, cultural change, and scribal practice. Neidorf's analysis reveals that the scribes earnestly attempted to standardize and modernize the text's orthography, but their unfamiliarity with obsolete words and ancient heroes resulted in frequent errors. The Beowulf manuscript thus emerges from his study as an indispensible witness to processes of linguistic and cultural change that took place in England between the eighth and eleventh centuries. An appendix addresses J. R. R. Tolkien's Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, which was published in 2014. Neidorf assesses Tolkien's general views on the transmission of Beowulf and evaluates his position on various textual issues. 410 0$aMyth and poetics ;$v2. 606 $aEpic poetry, English (Old)$xCriticism, Textual 606 $aTransmission of texts$zEngland$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aLanguage and culture$zEngland$xHistory$yTo 1500 615 0$aEpic poetry, English (Old)$xCriticism, Textual. 615 0$aTransmission of texts$xHistory 615 0$aLanguage and culture$xHistory 676 $a829.3 686 $aHH 1568$2rvk 700 $aNeidorf$b Leonard$01515662 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910792951603321 996 $aThe transmission of Beowulf$93751573 997 $aUNINA