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Riddles, English (Old) --- English poetry --- Riddles, Latin --- Anglo-Saxon riddles --- English riddles, Old --- Old English riddles --- Riddles, Anglo-Saxon --- Riddles, Old English --- Latin riddles --- History and criticism.

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"Examines the Old English riddles found in the tenth-century Exeter Book manuscript, with particular attention to their relationship to larger traditions of literary and traditional riddling"--Provided by publisher.

Riddles in literature. --- Riddles, English (Old) --- English poetry --- Anglo-Saxon riddles --- English riddles, Old --- Old English riddles --- Riddles, Anglo-Saxon --- Riddles, Old English --- History and criticism. --- Exeter book. --- Codex exoniensis --- Exeterbuch --- Exeter Dean and Chapter MS 3501

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Perhaps the most enigmatic cultural artifacts that survive from the Anglo-Saxon period are the Old English riddle poems that were preserved in the tenth century Exeter Book manuscript. Clever, challenging, and notoriously obscure, the riddles have fascinated readers for centuries and provided crucial insight into the period. In Say What I Am Called, Dieter Bitterli takes a fresh look at the riddles by examining them in the context of earlier Anglo-Latin riddles. Bitterli argues that there is a vigorous common tradition between Anglo-Latin and Old English riddles and details how the contents of the Exeter Book emulate and reassess their Latin predecessors while also expanding their literary and formal conventions. The book also considers the ways in which convention and content relate to writing in a vernacular language. A rich and illuminating work that is as intriguing as the riddles themselves, Say What I Am Called is a rewarding study of some of the most interesting works from the Anglo-Saxon period.

Riddles, English (Old) --- English poetry --- Riddles, Latin --- Riddles in literature. --- Latin riddles --- Anglo-Saxon riddles --- English riddles, Old --- Old English riddles --- Riddles, Anglo-Saxon --- Riddles, Old English --- History and criticism. --- Exeter book. --- Codex exoniensis --- Exeterbuch --- Exeter Dean and Chapter MS 3501

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"Humans are the only animals who create and solve puzzles -- for the sheer pleasure of it -- and there is no obvious genetic reason why we would do this. Marcel Danesi explores the psychology of puzzles and puzzling, with scores of classic examples. His pioneering book is both entertaining and enlightening."--Will Shortz, Crossword Editor, The New York Times ..". Puzzle fanatics will enjoy the many riddles, illusions, cryptograms and other mind-benders offered for analysis."--Psychology Today ..". a bristlingly clear ... always intriguing survey of the history and rationale of puzzles ... [A] splendid study ..."--Knight Ridder Newspapers

Games --- Puzzles --- Amusements --- Riddles --- Social aspects. --- Psychological aspects.

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"In this book, Curtis Gruenler proposes that the concept of the enigmatic, latent in a wide range of medieval thinking about literature, can help us better understand in medieval terms much of the era's most enduring literature, from the riddles of the Anglo-Saxon bishop Aldhelm to the great vernacular works of Dante, Chaucer, Julian of Norwich, and, above all, Langland's Piers Plowman. Riddles, rhetoric, and theology--the three fields of meaning of aenigma in medieval Latin--map a way of thinking about reading and writing obscure literature that was widely shared across the Middle Ages. The poetics of enigma links inquiry about language by theologians with theologically ambitious literature. Each sense of enigma brings out an aspect of this poetics. The playfulness of riddling, both oral and literate, was joined to a Christian vision of literature by Aldhelm and the Old English riddles of the Exeter Book. Defined in rhetoric as an obscure allegory, enigma was condemned by classical authorities but resurrected under the influence of Augustine as an aid to contemplation. Its theological significance follows from a favorite biblical verse among medieval theologians, "We see now through a mirror in an enigma, then face to face" (1 Cor. 13:12). Along with other examples of the poetics of enigma, Piers Plowman can be seen as a culmination of centuries of reflection on the importance of obscure language for knowing and participating in endless mysteries of divinity and humanity and a bridge to the importance of the enigmatic in modern literature. This book will be especially useful for scholars and undergraduate students interested in medieval European literature, literary theory, and contemplative theology"--

Ambiguity in literature. --- Riddles in literature. --- Poetics --- Aesthetics, Medieval. --- History --- Langland, William, --- Aesthetics.