DOCSLIB.ORG

Künzel, Stefanie (2018) Concepts of Infectious, Contagious, And

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Künzel, Stefanie (2018) Concepts of Infectious, Contagious, And Concepts of Infectious, Contagious, and Epidemic Disease in Anglo-Saxon England Stefanie Künzel, MA. Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy SEPTEMBER 2017 This page is intentionally left blank. Abstract This thesis examines concepts of disease existing in the Anglo-Saxon period. The focus is in particular on the conceptual intricacies pertaining to pestilence or, in modern terms, epidemic disease. The aim is to (1) establish the different aspects of the cognitive conceptualisation and their representation in the language and (2) to illustrate how they are placed in relation to other concepts within a broader understanding of the world. The scope of this study encompasses the entire corpus of Old English literature, select Latin material produced in Anglo-Saxon England, as well as prominent sources including works by Isidore of Seville, Gregory of Tours, and Pope Gregory the Great. An introductory survey of past scholarship identifies main tenets of research and addresses shortcomings in our understanding of historic depictions of epidemic disease, that is, a lack of appreciation for the dynamics of the human mind. The main body of research will discuss the topic on a lexico-semantic, contextual and wider cultural level. An electronic evaluation of the Dictionary of Old English Corpus establishes the most salient semantic fields surrounding instances of cwealm and wol (‘pestilence’), such as harmful entities, battle and warfare, sin, punishment, and atmospheric phenomena. Occurrences of pestilential disease are distributed across a variety of text types including (medical) charms, hagiographic and historiographic literature, homilies, and scientific, encyclopaedic treatises. The different contexts highlight several distinguishable aspects of disease, (‘reason’, ‘cause’, ‘symptoms’, ‘purpose’, and ‘treatment’) and strategically put them in relation with other concepts. Connections within this conceptual network can be based on co-occurrence, causality, and analogy and are set within a wider cultural frame informed largely though not exclusively by Christian doctrine. The thesis concludes that Anglo-Saxon ideas of disease must be viewed as part of a complex web of knowledge and beliefs in order to understand how they can be framed by various discourses with more or less diverging objectives. The overall picture emerging from this study, while certainly not being free from contradiction, is not one of superstition and ignorance but is grounded in observation and integrated into many-layered systems of cultural knowledge. This page is intentionally left blank. Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Christina Lee and Prof Judith Jesch. Throughout my time as a PhD candidate, as well as during my MA studies, they have provided the patient support and necessary guidance which made this thesis possible. Beside academic and pastoral support, I have received financial aid from numerous sources, especially the University of Nottingham’s Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship for Research Excellence as well as conference bursaries from the Institute of Medieval Research and the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age. In addition, I was fortunate to enjoy the support and community spirit of Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland (TOEBI). My appreciation goes out to all of the junior, senior, and veteran academics who ignited and shared my enthusiasm for the Old English and, a bit later, the Old Norse language. In particular, thanks are due to Prof Gabriele Knappe who introduced me to the Anglo-Saxon wor(l)d and whose dedication to teaching Old English by far surpasses the requirements and limitations set by core curricula. Last but not least, a select few items off my long list of things I am grateful for: having a PhD-sibling of Dr Erin Connelly’s calibre; the exceptional hospitality of Hayden Ashby; my mother never asking too many questions; the unobtrusive encouragement received from colleagues and friends; and especially, the constancy of my partner Judith who had to witness every step of the way from up-close. This page is intentionally left blank. Index List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................... 9 1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 13 1.1 Historical Development of Scholarship on Diseases and Medicine of the Early Medieval Period ...................................................................................... 15 Etymology and the Vocabulary of Disease ................................................... 17 Historiographic Approaches to Disease(s) and Medicine ............................. 18 Anglo-Saxon Medicine & Magic – The Anthropological Perspective ......... 22 The ‘Apologetic’ Approach ........................................................................... 24 Recent Interdisciplinary Approaches ............................................................ 25 1.2 Definition of Terminology, Scope, and Research Questions ..................... 28 Concepts…of Disease ................................................................................... 29 Infectious, Contagious, Epidemic ................................................................. 34 Research Aims and Questions ....................................................................... 38 2 Theoretical Background and Methodology ............................................... 40 2.1 Social Constructionism ............................................................................... 41 2.2 The Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics ................................................... 45 2.3 Cognitive Linguistics and Cultural History ................................................ 49 2.4 Methods, Structure and Limitations of this Investigation .......................... 59 A Note on Citation and Translation .............................................................. 64 3 Linguistic Evaluation of the Primary Sources .......................................... 65 3.1 Semantics and Etymology .......................................................................... 66 3.2 When is Disease Epidemic?........................................................................ 73 3.3 Metaphoric Conceptualisation of Disease .................................................. 74 3.4 Disease as Metaphor ................................................................................... 77 3.5 Parallels and Co-Occurrences with Other Concepts ................................... 79 4 Monsters and Disease .................................................................................. 84 Definition: ‘Monsters’ ................................................................................... 85 4.1 Verbs: forhergian and afligan .................................................................... 87 4.2 Personification of Disease .......................................................................... 91 The ‘Nine Herbs Charm’ ............................................................................... 91 Grendel and Other Monsters ....................................................................... 100 4.3 Disease and Monsters in Related Contexts: Two Old Norse Charms ...... 110 4.4 Summary ................................................................................................... 115 5 Saints and Disease ...................................................................................... 118 Parameters of Text Selection and Literature Review .................................. 118 5.1 Martyrs and Patients – St. Oswald and St. Chad ...................................... 127 St Oswald .................................................................................................... 127 St Chad ........................................................................................................ 133 5.2 Asceticism and Inspiration – St Cuthbert and St Guthlac ........................ 137 St Cuthbert ................................................................................................... 137 St Guthlac .................................................................................................... 144 5.3 Abbesses and Epidemics – St Æthelburh and St Æthelthryth .................. 146 St Æthelburh ................................................................................................ 146 St Æthelthryth.............................................................................................. 154 5.4 Summary ............................................................................................... 164 6 Disease and the End of the Natural World .............................................. 169 6.1 Prognostics ................................................................................................ 174 6.2 The Homilies of Wulfstan and Ælfric ...................................................... 180 The Phrase stric and steorfa ........................................................................ 185 Punishment and Penitence ........................................................................... 189 Disease and the Law .................................................................................... 206 6.3 On the Nature of Pestilence ...................................................................... 214 De natura rerum .........................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018
    Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 Conforming to General Convention 2018 1 Preface Christians have since ancient times honored men and women whose lives represent heroic commitment to Christ and who have borne witness to their faith even at the cost of their lives. Such witnesses, by the grace of God, live in every age. The criteria used in the selection of those to be commemorated in the Episcopal Church are set out below and represent a growing consensus among provinces of the Anglican Communion also engaged in enriching their calendars. What we celebrate in the lives of the saints is the presence of Christ expressing itself in and through particular lives lived in the midst of specific historical circumstances. In the saints we are not dealing primarily with absolutes of perfection but human lives, in all their diversity, open to the motions of the Holy Spirit. Many a holy life, when carefully examined, will reveal flaws or the bias of a particular moment in history or ecclesial perspective. It should encourage us to realize that the saints, like us, are first and foremost redeemed sinners in whom the risen Christ’s words to St. Paul come to fulfillment, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” The “lesser feasts” provide opportunities for optional observance. They are not intended to replace the fundamental celebration of Sunday and major Holy Days. As the Standing Liturgical Commission and the General Convention add or delete names from the calendar, successive editions of this volume will be published, each edition bearing in the title the date of the General Convention to which it is a response.
    [Show full text]
  • The Inscription of Charms in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts
    Oral Tradition, 14/2 (1999): 401-419 The Inscription of Charms in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts Lea Olsan Anglo-Saxon charms constitute a definable oral genre that may be distinguished from other kinds of traditionally oral materials such as epic poetry because texts of charms include explicit directions for performance. Scribes often specify that a charm be spoken (cwean) or sung (singan). In some cases a charm is to be written on some object. But inscribing an incantation on an object does not necessarily diminish or contradict the orality of the genre. An incantation written on an amulet manifests the appropriation of the technology of writing for the purposes of a traditionally oral activity.1 Unlike epic poetry, riddles, or lyrics, charms are performed toward specific practical ends and their mode of operation is performative, so that uttering the incantation accomplishes a purpose. The stated purpose of an incantation also determines when and under what circumstances a charm will be performed. Charms inscribed in manuscripts are tagged according to the needs they answer-whether eye pain, insomnia, childbirth, theft of property, or whatever. Some charms ward off troubles (toothache, bees swarming); others, such as those for bleeding or swellings, relieve physical troubles. This specificity of purpose markedly distinguishes the genre from other traditional oral genres that are less specifically utilitarian. Given the specific circumstances of need that call for their performance, the social contexts in which charms are performed create the conditions felicitous for performative speech acts in Austin’s sense (1975:6-7, 12-15). The assumption underlying charms is that the incantations (whether words or symbols or phonetic patterns) of a charm can effect a change in the state of the person or persons or inanimate object (a salve, for example, or a field for crops).
    [Show full text]
  • Leeds Studies in English
    Leeds Studies in English New Series XLII © Leeds Studies in English 2012 School of English University of Leeds Leeds, England ISSN 0075-8566 Leeds Studies in English New Series XLII 2011 Edited by Alaric Hall Editorial assistants Helen Price and Victoria Cooper Leeds Studies in English <www.leeds.ac.uk/lse> School of English University of Leeds 2011 Leeds Studies in English <www.leeds.ac.uk/lse> Leeds Studies in English is an international, refereed journal based in the School of English, University of Leeds. Leeds Studies in English publishes articles on Old and Middle English literature, Old Icelandic language and literature, and the historical study of the English language. After a two-year embargo, past copies are made available, free access; they can be accessed via <http://www.leeds.ac.uk/lse>. Editorial Board: Catherine Batt, Chair Marta Cobb Victoria Cooper, Editorial Assistant Alaric Hall, Editor Paul Hammond Cathy Hume, Reviews Editor Ananya Jahanara Kabir Oliver Pickering Helen Price, Editorial Assistant Notes for Contributors Contributors are requested to follow the MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses, 2nd edn (London: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2008), available at <http://www.mhra.org.uk/Publications/Books/StyleGuide/download.shtml>. Where possible, contributors are encouraged to include the digital object identifiers or, where a complete free access text is available, stable URLs of materials cited (see Style Guide §11.2.10.1). The language of publication is English and translations should normally be supplied for quotations in languages other than English. Each contributor will receive a free copy of the journal, and a PDF of their article for distribution.
    [Show full text]
  • Violence, Christianity, and the Anglo-Saxon Charms Laurajan G
    Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1-1-2011 Violence, Christianity, And The Anglo-Saxon Charms Laurajan G. Gallardo Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in English at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Gallardo, Laurajan G., "Violence, Christianity, And The Anglo-Saxon Charms" (2011). Masters Theses. 293. http://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/293 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. *****US Copyright Notice***** No further reproduction or distribution of this copy is permitted by electronic transmission or any other means. The user should review the copyright notice on the following scanned image(s) contained in the original work from which this electronic copy was made. Section 108: United States Copyright Law The copyright law of the United States [Title 17, United States Code] governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the reproduction is not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that use may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.
    [Show full text]
  • Kent Academic Repository Full Text Document (Pdf)
    Kent Academic Repository Full text document (pdf) Citation for published version Gallagher, Robert and TINTI, FRANCESCA (2018) Latin, Old English and documentary practice at Worcester from Wærferth to Oswald. Anglo-Saxon England . ISSN 0263-6751. (In press) DOI Link to record in KAR https://kar.kent.ac.uk/72334/ Document Version Author's Accepted Manuscript Copyright & reuse Content in the Kent Academic Repository is made available for research purposes. Unless otherwise stated all content is protected by copyright and in the absence of an open licence (eg Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher, author or other copyright holder. Versions of research The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record. Enquiries For any further enquiries regarding the licence status of this document, please contact: [email protected] If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent.ac.uk/contact.html Latin, Old English and documentary practice at Worcester from Wærferth to Oswald ROBERT GALLAGHER AND FRANCESCA TINTI ABSTRACT This article analyses the uses of Latin and Old English in the charters of Worcester cathedral, which represents one of the largest and most linguistically interesting of the surviving Anglo-Saxon archives. Specifically focused on the period encompassing the episcopates of Wærferth and Oswald (c. 870 to 992), this survey examines a time of intense administrative activity at Worcester, contemporaneous with significant transformations in the political and cultural life of Anglo-Saxon England more generally.
    [Show full text]
  • Cynewulf's Juliana
    CYNEWULF’S JULIANA: AN ANNOTATED MODERN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY Rosetta M. Berger A Study Presented to the Faculty of Wheaton College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation with Departmental Honors in English Norton, Massachusetts May 11, 2015 i Ic wille secgan ealles þonc, eow þe me geholpen hæfdon geara gongum, þæt ic æfre stande æghwæs onsund: To my parents: Mom and Dad, for always being there and supporting me every step of the way; To my siblings: Sara and Lewis, for love, laughs, and lifelong friendship; To my heorðgeneatas: Nina Forrest, for every day of making the world a better place together; Namiko Hitotsubashi, for many late nights and every paper written together; To all of my friends and family who have given me love and support along the way—you have all of my love and gratitude; To my fellow thesis writers: Elizabeth Peterson, for all the times we’ve shared from Young 3rd to Meneely 2nd; Jonathan Gerkin, for his theological contributions; And to my thesis committee: Professor Thomas Dolack, за четыре года поддержки и отличного преподавания; Professor Sam Coale, for his love of his students and of life; And last, but most certainly not least, Professor Michael Drout, for being an incredible, supportive, and inspiring professor, mentor, colleague, and friend throughout my college career. Wesað ge ealle hale. ii Contents Introduction 1 The Legend of Juliana ............................... 2 Manuscript and Text ............................... 7 Dialect ....................................... 8 Notes on Translation ............................... 10 1 Cynewulf’s Juliana: A Modern English Translation 17 Modern English .................................. 18 Old English .................................... 45 Bibliography 73 iii Introduction Although there has been and continues to be much scholarship on the relationship between Old English and Middle English literature, there has been very little discussion about the relationship between the Old English and Middle English versions of the saint’s life of Juliana.
    [Show full text]
  • Anglo-Saxon Magic
    PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/107198 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-10-09 and may be subject to change. ANGLO-SAXON MAGIC DOOR G. STORMS 'i-GRAVENHAGE MARTINUS NIJHOFF 1948 ANGLO-SAXON MAGIC Promotori Dr. A. POMPEN Ο J.M. CENTRALE DRUKKERIJ N.V. - NIJMEGEN ANGLO-SAXON MAGIC ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT TER VERKRIJGING VAN DE GRAAD VAN DOCTOR IN DE LETTEREN EN WIJSBEGEERTE AAN DE R.K. UNIVERSITEIT TE NIJMEGEN, OP GEZAG VAN DE RECTOR MAG­ NIFICUS Mgr. Dr. R. R. POST, HOOGLERAAR IN DE FACULTEIT DER GODGELEERDHEID, VOLGENS BESLUIT VAN DE SENAAT IN HET OPENBAAR TE VERDEDIGEN OP VRIJDAG 4 JUNI 1948 DES NAMIDDAGS 3 UUR DOOR GODFRID STORMS GEBOREN TE SITTARD MARTINUS NIJHOFF - s-GRAVENHAGE 1948 Voor mijn Vader en mijn Vrouw TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I. CHAPTER I. Introduction 1-11. Characteristics of magic 1. Tendency to pre­ serve secrecy 2. Examples from O.Icel. literature 2-5. The A-S. charms reveal much more 5. The magic means consist of verbal formulas and of practices 6. Close connection between original Α-S. magic and pre-Christian religious conceptions, especially the worship of the sun 6-10, the moon 10, and the earth 11. CHAPTER II The Manuscripts 12-26. § 1. The Leechbook 12-16. § 2. The Lac­ nunga 16-24. Parallel passages 18-23. Anglian origin of both books 23. The Lacnunga is a very mixed collection 24.
    [Show full text]
  • Intertextuality of Deor
    Vol. 4(8), pp. 132-138, October, 2013 DOI: 10.5897/JLC11.080 Journal of Languages and Culture ISSN 2141-6540 © 2013 Academic Journals http://www.academicjournals.org/JLC Review Intertextuality of Deor Raimondo Murgia Tallinn University, Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia. Accepted 22 November, 2012 The Deor is a poem found in the Exeter Book and included in the Old English elegies. The main purpose of this contribution is to highlight the possible intertextual links of the poem. After an outline of the old English elegies and a brief review of the most significant passages from the elegies, this short poem will be analyzed stanza by stanza. An attempt will be made to demonstrate that the various interpretations of the text depend on particular keywords that require that the readers to share the same time and space coordinates as the author. The personal names are the most important clues for interpretation. The problem is that they have been emended differently according to the editors and that the reader is supposed to know the referent hinted by those particular names. Key words: Old English elegies, Exeter Book, Deor, intertextuality. INTRODUCTION OF THE OLD ENGLISH ELEGIES It must be underlined that the term „elegy‟ applying to old definition of Old English elegy is Greenfield‟s (1965): “a English (hereafter OE) poetry could be misleading since relatively short reflective or dramatic poem embodying a one would expect the meter of such poetry to be the contrastive pattern of loss and consolation, ostensibly same as the Greek and Latin Elegies, in which their based upon a specific personal experience or observa- elegiac distich (Pinotti, 2002) points out that in the fourth tion, and expressing an attitude towards that experience”.
    [Show full text]
  • 13 Reflections on Tolkien's Use of Beowulf
    13 Reflections on Tolkien’s Use of Beowulf Arne Zettersten University of Copenhagen Beowulf, the famous Anglo-Saxon heroic poem, and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Author of the Century”, 1 have been thor- oughly analysed and compared by a variety of scholars.2 It seems most appropriate to discuss similar aspects of The Lord of the Rings in a Festschrift presented to Nils-Lennart Johannesson with a view to his own commentaries on the language of Tolkien’s fiction. The immediate pur- pose of this article is not to present a problem-solving essay but instead to explain how close I was to Tolkien’s own research and his activities in Oxford during the last thirteen years of his life. As the article unfolds, we realise more and more that Beowulf meant a great deal to Tolkien, cul- minating in Christopher Tolkien’s unexpected edition of the translation of Beowulf, completed by J.R.R. Tolkien as early as 1926. Beowulf has always been respected in its position as the oldest Germanic heroic poem.3 I myself accept the conclusion that the poem came into existence around 720–730 A.D. in spite of the fact that there is still considerable debate over the dating. The only preserved copy (British Library MS. Cotton Vitellius A.15) was most probably com- pleted at the beginning of the eleventh century. 1 See Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, 2000. 2 See Shippey, T.A., The Road to Middle-earth, 1982, Pearce, Joseph, Tolkien.
    [Show full text]
  • Abstract Old English Elegies: Language and Genre
    ABSTRACT OLD ENGLISH ELEGIES: LANGUAGE AND GENRE Stephanie Opfer, PhD Department of English Northern Illinois University, 2017 Dr. Susan E. Deskis, Director The Old English elegies include a group of poems found in the Exeter Book manuscript that have traditionally been treated as a single genre due to their general sense of lament – The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Riming Poem, Deor, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife’s Lament, Resignation, Riddle 60, The Husband’s Message, and The Ruin. In this study, I conduct a linguistic stylistic analysis of all ten poems using systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and a variety of computational and linguistic tools: Lexomics, Voyant, and Microsoft Excel. My results focus on three characteristics of the poetry: (1) the similarity of the linguistic style within the poems, measured by Lexomics; (2) an oscillation between first- and third-person clausal Themes, measured using SFL analysis; and (3) themes in the lexical categorization, measured through detailed lexical analysis. In the end, my methodology creates a new and more nuanced definition of the elegy: a relatively short reflective or dramatic poem, similar in style and content to other elegiac poems, that alternates between first- and third-person perspectives and includes (1) themes of exile; (2) imagery of water or the sea, the earth, and/or the weather; and (3) words expressing both joy and sorrow. Ultimately, I argue for a recategorization of only five poems as “Old English elegies”: The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife’s Lament, and The Riming Poem. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DE KALB, ILLINOIS MAY 2017 OLD ENGLISH ELEGIES: LANGUAGE AND GENRE BY STEPHANIE OPFER ©2017 Stephanie Opfer A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH Doctoral Director: Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Composite Nature of Andreas
    humanities Article The Composite Nature of Andreas David Maddock Department of Language and Literature, Signum University, Nashua, NH 03063, USA; [email protected] Received: 7 May 2019; Accepted: 20 July 2019; Published: 31 July 2019 Abstract: Scholars of the Old English poem Andreas have long debated its dating and authorship, as the poem shares affinities both with Beowulf and the signed poems of Cynewulf. Although this debate hinges on poetic style and other internal evidence, the stylistic uniformity of Andreas has not been suitably demonstrated. This paper investigates this question by examining the distribution of oral-formulaic data within the poem, which is then correlated to word frequency and orthographic profiles generated with lexomic techniques. The analysis identifies an earlier version of the poem, which has been expanded by a later poet. Keywords: Anglo-Saxon literature; Old English language; philology; digital humanities; medieval studies; Andreas; Cynewulf; Beowulf ; lexomics 1. Introduction Cynewulf has received scrutiny as one of the few named poets in the Anglo-Saxon vernacular due to the existence of four poems—Elene, Juliana, Christ II, and The Fates of the Apostles—that contain rune signatures bearing his name. The modern expectation is for an author to sign his work, but because manuscript collections of Anglo-Saxon poetry appear to have been intended for local audiences this was not the norm in medieval England (Bredehoft 2009, p. 45). Cynewulf signed these poems to solicit prayers on his behalf, not due to an expectation of publication (p. 46). Due to the anonymous nature of the Old English poetic corpus, unsigned poems authored by Cynewulf may exist, but because we know so little about his biography, “the whole question of Cynewulf’s authorship is intimately tied up with the issue of style” (Orchard 2003, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Borges, Solomon and Saturn: “Un Diálogo Anglosajón Del Siglo XI” (1961)
    Borges, Solomon and Saturn: “Un diálogo anglosajón del siglo XI” (1961) Miguel A. Gomes Gargamala University of Sunderland J. L. Borges’s interest in and understanding of the Old English dialogues featuring King Solomon and the pagan Saturn have hitherto received little academic attention. This article will explore Borges’s engagement with these texts and in doing so aims at contributing to recent scholarship concerning the author’s lifetime fascination with the medieval literatures of northern Europe. Particular attention will be given to Borges’s annotated translation of one of the Solomonic dialogues published in the journal of the National Library of Argentina in 1961, La Biblioteca, under the title “Un diálogo anglosajón del siglo XI”. Borges’s reasons for selecting the text as well as the Old English sources used in this translation will be explored alongside his passion towards the subject of the translated passage. Keywords: Borges; Old English; Solomon and Saturn; translation studies No aspiro a ser Esopo. Mis cuentos, como los de Las mil y una noches, quieren distraer y conmover y no persuadir. Este propósito no quiere decir que me encierre, según la imagen salomónica, en una torre de marfil. “El informe de Brodie”, J. L. Borges (OC, I: 1021)1 1 Throughout this article OC, I abbreviates Borges’s Obras completas Vol. I (1974) and, similarly, OC, II is the short form for Obras completas Vol. II (1989). Likewise, OCC will be used for citations and titles as appearing in Obras completas en colaboración (1997). Miguel A. Gomes Gargamala, Selim25 (2020): 37–60. ISSN 1132-631X / DOI: https://doi.org/10.17811/selim.25.2020.37-60 38 Miguel A.
    [Show full text]