Beowulf and the North before the Vikings

Tom Shippey

Published by ARC Humanities Press 2022

Beowulf and the North before the Vikings

Tom Shippey

In the series Past Imperfect

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781802700541

Overview
Contents

About this book

Tom Shippey challenges the view that Beowulf is a fantasy and argues that using the poem as a starting point, historical, archaeological, and legendary sources can provide a plausible and consistent history of the North in the fifth and sixth centuries.

Author / Editor information

Shippey Tom :

Tom Shippey has published extensively on Tolkien and on early medieval literature. His last book is Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings (2018).

Reviews

Dennis Cronan:

Although this book examines the historical contexts of the Old English poem Beowulf from a variety of perspectives, it is directed not toward historians (although they are surely part of the book’s broader audience) but primarily toward students and scholars of Beowulf. The arguments of the book are presented in a very readable, accessible style, so it is also directed toward a general audience that is interested in either Beowulf or early Scandinavian history, or both.[...]Tolkien presented his British Academy lecture as a correction of what he saw as an over-emphasis on legendary history to the detriment of the poem as poem. Perhaps, if we are fortunate, Shippey’s book will contribute to a similar correction and return the historical dimensions of the poem to the center of our critical concerns. To this end, he explores these dimensions from as many perspectives as possible.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	iv
Preface and Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
Introduction: Fantasy or History? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1 Poetry and Archaeology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Chapter 2 Old Legend, New Reality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Chapter 3 The Bigger Picture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
Chapter 4 The Non-National Epic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Further Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: ARC Humanities Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 136
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 2
- Tables: 5
Keywords: The early North; Geatas; Tolkien; Scandinavia

eBook

Published: August 31, 2022
ISBN: 9781802700541