The Old English Boethius: with Verse Prologues and Epilogues Associated with King Alfred

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Susan Irvine Malcolm R. Godden

The Old English Boethius

with Verse Prologues and Epilogues Associated with King Alfred

Susan Irvine, Malcolm R. Godden

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English

Harvard Uni.Press Academi
19 November 2012

Philosophy; Western philosophy: Medieval & Renaissance, c 500 to c 1600

Series: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library

The Old English Boethius boldly refashions in Anglo-Saxon guise a great literary monument of the late-antique world, The Consolation of Philosophy. Condemned to death for treason around 525 ce, the Roman scholar Boethius turned to philosophy to transform his personal distress into a powerful meditation on fate, free will, and the human capacity for virtue in a flawed, fallen world. Boethius's Latin dialogues found a receptive audience in Anglo-Saxon England, where they were translated into Old English some time around 900. The translator (traditionally identified with King Alfred) freely adapts the Latin for a new audience: the Roman Fabricius, for example, becomes the Germanic weapon-smith Weland. The translation replicates Boethius's alternation of prose and verse-only in this case Old English prose alternates with alliterative verse.

In later centuries Chaucer and Queen Elizabeth each turned The Consolation of Philosophy into English, but the Old English translation was the first to bring it to a wider vernacular audience. Verse prologues and epilogues for works traditionally associated with King Alfred fill out the volume, offering readers a fascinating glimpse of the moment when English confidently claimed its birthright as a literature capable of anything, from sublime ideas to subtle poetry.

Edited and translated by: Susan Irvine, Malcolm R. Godden
Imprint: Harvard Uni.Press Academi
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 133mm, Spine: 33mm
Weight: 576g
ISBN: 9780674055582
ISBN 10: 0674055586
Series: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
Pages: 480
Publication Date: 19 November 2012
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Susan Irvine is Professor of English, University College London. Malcolm R. Godden is Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, University of Oxford.

Reviews for The Old English Boethius: with Verse Prologues and Epilogues Associated with King Alfred

Splendidly satisfies the need for an authoritative, accessible account of these remarkable texts. The two volumes offer scrupulous editions and Modern English translations, exhaustive textual apparatus, and insightful commentary...All original scholarship on the Boethius hereafter will owe a massive debt to Godden and Irvine for opening up so many new possibilities...Oxford University Press has done justice to the editors' achievement by producing both volumes to high standards. --Speculum