Childhood & Adolescence in Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture / / Susan Irvine, Winfried Rudolf.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press Pilot 2018
• HerausgeberIn: Irvine, Susan,; Rudolf, Winfried,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Toronto Anglo-Saxon Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (360 p.)

Childhood & Adolescence in Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture counters the generally received wisdom that early medieval childhood and adolescence were an unremittingly bleak experience. The contributors analyse representations of children and their education in Old English, Old Norse and Anglo-Latin writings, including hagiography, heroic poetry, riddles, legal documents, philosophical prose and elegies. Within and across these linguistic and generic boundaries some key themes emerge: the habits and expectations of name-giving, expressions of childhood nostalgia, the role of uneducated parents, and the religious zeal and rebelliousness of youth. After decades of study dominated by adult gender studies, Childhood & Adolescence in Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture rebalances our understanding of family life in the Anglo-Saxon era by reconstructing the lives of medieval children and adolescents through their literary representation.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Childhood and Adolescence: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Archaeological and Documentary Evidence -- 2. Naming Children in Anglo-Saxon England: Ethnic Identity and Cultural Change -- 3. Anglo-Saxon Preaching on Children -- 4. Tender Beginnings in the Exeter Book Riddles -- 5. Parenting and Childhood in The Fortunes of Men -- 6. Children and the Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons in Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum -- 7. Childhood in the Lives of Anglo-Saxon Saints -- 8. Alcuin's Educational Dispute: The Riddle of Teaching and the Teaching of Riddles -- 9. Foster-Relationships in the Old English Boethius -- 10. Hrothulf's Childhood and Beowulf's: A Comparison -- 11. Of Boys and Men: Anglo-Saxon Literary Adaptations of the Book of Daniel -- 12. "Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth": Parent-Child Litigation in Anglo-Saxon England -- Bibliography -- Contributors -- Index