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Old English Hagiography: Recent and Future Research
Author(s) -
Watson Claire
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
literature compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.158
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 1741-4113
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2004.00100.x
Subject(s) - scholarship , criticism , relevance (law) , literature , history , psychology , sociology , art , law , political science
The study of Old English hagiography is a burgeoning field, and has received considerable scholarly attention over the last decade. This survey attempts to isolate some trends in recent scholarship, concentrating on work published over the last ten years. It aims to give an impression of the breadth and range of current work whilst highlighting future directions for study. Discussion of scholarship is predominantly structured around areas of particular concern in current criticism: attitudes to source study; intertextual trends and motifs within the genre; the social relevance of hagiographic texts; and the growing interest in female saints’ lives provide examples of prevalent spheres of interest. The relative states of scholarship with respect to the Ælfrician and anonymous hagiographic corpora are also touched upon, and references given for central anthologies of essays. A brief overview of primary texts is also supplied, drawing particular attention to recent editions of anonymous vitae .