Skip to main content

IMC 2010: Sessions

Session 101: The Mock Heroic in Old English Literature

Monday 12 July 2010, 11.15-12.45

Organiser:Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Moderator/Chair:Pirkko Koppinen, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Paper 101-aShaking the Foundations: The Mock Heroic in the Old English Riddles
(Language: English)
Jennifer Neville, Department of English, Royal Holloway, University of London
Index terms: Daily Life, Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Old English, Mentalities
Paper 101-bMock Heroic Style in Andreas: The Relationship with Beowulf
(Language: English)
Richard North, Department of English Language & Literature, University College London
Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Old English, Literacy and Orality, Mentalities
Paper 101-cBlessed Are Those Who Mourn: Figures of Compunction in Old English Literature
(Language: English)
Frances McCormack, Department of English, National University of Ireland, Galway
Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Lay Piety, Religious Life, Theology
Abstract

Old English literature is well known for being dominated by the heroic idiom, which represents value, whether in literal descriptions of physical battles or metaphorical descriptions of metaphysical battles. It is also well known for being earnest, even dour. Yet, as the three papers in this session demonstrate, it is possible that modern scholarship has taken the serious issue of heroic action too seriously. Looking in turn at the Old English riddles, Andreas, and religious texts, these three papers argue for a re-examination of the heroic idiom, whose familiar formulae mask subtle and sometimes humorous ironies.