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Beowulf, like The Iliad and The Odyssey, is a foundational work of Western literature that originated in mysterious circumstances. In The Transmission of "Beowulf," Leonard Neidorf addresses philological questions that are fundamental to the study of the poem. Is Beowulf the product of unitary or composite authorship? How substantially did scribes alter the text during its transmission, and how much time elapsed between composition and preservation?Neidorf answers these questions by distinguishing linguistic and metrical regularities, which originate with the Beowulf poet, from patterns of textual corruption, which descend from copyists involved in the poem's transmission. He argues, on the basis of archaic features that pervade Beowulf and set it apart from other Old English poems, that the text preserved in the sole extant manuscript (ca. 1000) is essentially the work of one poet who composed it circa 700. Of course, during the poem's written transmission, several hundred scribal errors crept into its text. These errors are interpreted in the central chapters of the book as valuable evidence for language history, cultural change, and scribal practice. Neidorf's analysis reveals that the scribes earnestly attempted to standardize and modernize the text's orthography, but their unfamiliarity with obsolete words and ancient heroes resulted in frequent errors. The Beowulf manuscript thus emerges from his study as an indispensible witness to processes of linguistic and cultural change that took place in England between the eighth and eleventh centuries. An appendix addresses J. R. R. Tolkien's Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, which was published in 2014. Neidorf assesses Tolkien's general views on the transmission of Beowulf and evaluates his position on various textual issues.

Language and culture --- Transmission of texts --- Epic poetry, English (Old) --- Culture and language --- Culture --- Literary transmission --- Manuscript transmission --- Textual transmission --- Criticism, Textual --- Editions --- Manuscripts --- Anglo-Saxon epic poetry --- English epic poetry, Old --- Epic poetry, Anglo-Saxon --- Old English epic poetry --- English poetry --- History --- Criticism, Textual. --- Beowulf --- Bjowulf --- 820 "06/10" BEOWULF --- 091 --- 091.14 --- 930.85.42 <41> --- 930.85.42 <41> Cultuurgeschiedenis: Middeleeuwen--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- Cultuurgeschiedenis: Middeleeuwen--Verenigd Koninkrijk van Groot-Brittannië en Noord-Ierland --- 091.14 Codicologie. Codices. Scriptoria --- Codicologie. Codices. Scriptoria --- 820 "06/10" BEOWULF Engelse literatuur--?"06/10"--BEOWULF --- Engelse literatuur--?"06/10"--BEOWULF --- Handschriftenkunde. Handschriftencatalogi--Engels

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Robert D. Fulk is arguably the greatest Old English philologist to emerge during the twentieth century; his corpus of scholarship has fundamentally shaped contemporary understanding of many aspects of Anglo-Saxon literary history and English historical linguistics.
This volume, in his honour, brings together essays which engage with his work and advance his research interests. Scholarship onhistorical metrics and the dating, editing, and interpretation of Old English poetry thus forms the core of this book; other topics addressed include syntax, phonology, etymology, lexicology, and paleography. An introductory overview of Professor Fulk's achievements puts these studies in context, alongside essays which assess his contributions to metrical theory and his profound impact on the study of Beowulf. By consolidating and augmenting Fulk's research, this collection takes readers to the cutting edge of Old English philology.

Leonard Neidorf is a Junior Fellow at theHarvard Society of Fellows; Rafael J. Pascual is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University; Tom Shippey is Professor Emeritus at St Louis University.

Contributors: Thomas Cable,Christopher M. Cain, George Clark, Dennis Cronan, Daniel Donoghue, Aaron Ecay, Mark Griffith, Megan E. Hartman, Stefan Jurasinski, Anatoly Liberman, Donka Minkova, Haruko Momma, Rory Naismith, LeonardNeidorf, Andy Orchard, Rafael J. Pascual, Susan Pintzuk, Geoffrey Russom, Tom Shippey, Jun Terasawa, Charles D. Wright.

English philology --- Anglo-Saxon philology --- English philology, Old --- Old English philology --- Fulk, R. D. --- Fulk, Robert Dennis --- 450-1100 --- Old English Language, Period of --- British literary history. --- English literary history. --- English literature. --- Old English poetry. --- linguistic study of Old English poetry. --- linguistics. --- medieval English. --- medieval poetry. --- philology.