How Tradition Works: A MemeBased Cultural Poetics of the AngloSaxon Tenth Century (Volume 306)

by Michael D.C. Drout

How Tradition Works examines the ways traditions are created, constituted, modified, and recognized. Expanding and revising "memetic" theory, the book analyzes the culture of the tenth-century English Benedictine Reform. How Tradition Works shows how this flowering of culture can be traced to the reliance by Anglo-Saxon monks upon unchanging written rules, the Rule of St. Benedict and the Regularis Concordia . The book also examines the corpus of Old English wills, the Old English Rule of Chrodegang , and the "wisdom poems" of the Exeter Book. This interdisciplinary study is valuable for specialists in evolutionary theory and memetics, Anglo-Saxon studies, and scholars interested in Oral Traditional Theory. How Tradition Works provides researchers with new methodological tools as well as showing how these tools can work to untangle the intricacies of cultural change and stasis.

Genres: Medieval, History

340 pages, Hardcover

First published June 19, 2006

Reviews

[Andrew Yerkes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Groundbreaking and inspiring work applying memetics to literary study. Clearly written, grounded in science, and interesting to read, even for non-specialists.

[Thomas Tutt · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is no doubt that Drout is a capable scholar, and his ideas are interesting and novel. But Drout's open hostility toward critical theory is off-putting.

[Kevin]

Excellent. Fabulous information and very entertaining too.