Text and Picture in Anglo-Saxon England: Narrative Strategies in the Junius 11 Manuscript

Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England #31

by Catherine E. Karkov

This book reveals the interrelationship of text and picture in the only surviving illustrated Anglo-Saxon poetic manuscript. It locates the manuscript within the broader cultural contexts in which it was produced and read, and documents the way in which it was transformed by poets, artists, and modern scholars and editors from a collection of biblical poetry to a national historical narrative.

286 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 2001

About the author

Catherine Karkov is professor of History of Art and head of the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds. Her research centres on early medieval art, especially Anglo-Saxon art, and she has published two monographs, one on Anglo-Saxon art, and one on the relation between text and image in Anglo-Saxon literature. In the latter, whose focus is on MS Junius 11, she argues that a complete edition of the manuscript leaves out the many illustrations at its own peril; these illustrations occur at dramatic moments in the four poems and help elucidate the allegorical import of many passages.

Reviews

[Hannah Fogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved when this got so close to making my argument for me but stopped ever so slightly short so i get to say it myself. much appreciated diva.