Early Germanic Literature and Culture

by Murdoch, Brian; Read, Malcolm K.

• ISBN13: 9781571131997
• ISBN10: 157113199X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-08-01
• Publisher: Camden House

Summary

The first volume of this set views the development of writing in German with respect to broad aspects of the early Germanic past, drawing on a range of disciplines including archaeology, anthropology, and philology in addition to literary history. The first part considers the whole concept of Germanic antiquity and the way in which it has been approached, examines classical writings about Germanic origins and the earliest Germanic tribes, and looks at the two great influences on the early Germanic world: the confrontation with the Roman Empire and the displacement of Germanic religion by Christianity. A chapter on orality -- the earliest stage of all literature -- provides a bridge to the earliest Germanic writings. The second part of the book is devoted to written Germanic -- rather than German -- materials, with a series of chapters looking first at the Runic inscriptions, then at Gothic, the first Germanic language to find its way onto parchment (in Ulfilas's Bible translation). The topic turns finally to what we now understand as literature, with general surveys of the three great areas of early Germanic literature: Old Norse, Old English, and Old High and Low German. A final chapter is devoted to the Old Saxon Heliand.Contributors: T. M. Andersson, Heinrich Beck, Graeme Dunphy, Klaus Düwel, G. Ronald Murphy, Adrian Murdoch, Brian Murdoch, Rudolf Simek, Herwig Wolfram.Brian Murdoch and Malcolm Read both teach in the German Department of the University of Stirling in Scotland.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Preface	ix
List of Abbreviations	x
Introduction	1	(24)
Brian Murdoch
Malcolm Read
The Concept of Germanic Antiquity	25	(14)
Heinrich Beck
Origo gentis: The Literature of German Origins	39	(16)
Herwig Wolfram
Germania Romana	55	(18)
Adrian Murdoch
Germanic Religion and the Conversion to Christianity	73	(30)
Rudolf Simek
Orality	103	(18)
R. Graeme Dunphy
Runic	121	(28)
Klaus Diiwel
Gothic	149	(22)
Brian Murdoch
Old Norse-Icelandic Literature	171	(34)
Theodor Andersson
Old English	205	(30)
Fred C. Robinson
Old High German and Continental Old Low German	235	(28)
Brian Murdoch
The Old Saxon Heliand	263	(22)
G. Ronald Murphy
Bibliography	285	(32)
Notes on the Contributors	317	(2)
Index	319