E-Book Overview
The focus of this bibliography is the native literary tradition expressed in Irish and Welsh verse and prose from the earliest time to circa 1450. Priority is given to the most recent critical works and editions, provided that they supersede previous ones; however, earlier scholarly work and critical editions of texts that are now regarded as classics are also included. Because of the highly selective nature of this bibliography, Rachel Bromwich includes only a few studies on early legal texts, historical background, ecclesiastical learning, hagiography, archaeology and art, and folklore.
The bibliography is divided into five chapters, of which two are intended for newcomers to the field and list the more available works of reference and aids to language study. The remaining three are devoted to literary history and criticism, texts and translations, and background material. The more than 500 entries have been arranged to show the ways in which the medieval literature of Ireland and Wales pursue parallel courses. In each chapter a general and comparative section is followed by sub-sections dealing with Irish material (including Cornish and Breton). Within each of these sub-sections individual items dealing with similar or closely related topics have been grouped together.
Since this work is intended primarily for students working in English, the majority of the listings are in English, but important works in Irish, Welsh, French, and German are also cited.
E-Book Content
MEDIEVAL CELTIC LITERATURE A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
TORONTO MEDIEVAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES 5 General editor: John Leyerle
Published in Association with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto by University of Toronto Press
RACHEL BROMWICH
Medieval Celtic Literature A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
©University of Toronto Press 1974 Toronto and Buffalo Printed in Canada Cloth ISBN 0-8020-2170-0 Paper ISBN 0-8020-6252-0 LC 74-82287
CN ISSN 0082-5050
Editor's Preface
The study of the Middle Ages has been developed chiefly within university departments such as English or History. This pattern is increasingly being supplemented by an interdisciplinary approach in which the plan of work is shaped to fit the subject studied. The difference of approach is between Chaucer the English poet and Chaucer the civil servant of London attached to the court of Richard II, a man interested in the Ptolemaic universe and widely read in Latin, French, and Italian. Interdisciplinary programs tend to lead readers into areas relatively unfamiliar to them where critical bibliographies prepared with careful selectivity by an expert are essential. The Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto takes such an interdisciplinary approach to the Middle Ages, and the need for selective bibliographies has become apparent in our work. The Centre has undertaken to meet this need by sponsoring the Toronto Medieval Bibliographies. In his valuable guide, Serial Bibliographies for Medieval Studies * Richard H. Rouse describes 283 bibliographies; the number is surprisingly large and indicates the considerable effort now being made to provide inclusive lists of items relevant to medieval studies. The total amount in print is already vast; for one unfamiliar with a subject, significant work is difficult to locate and the problem grows worse with each year's output. The reader may well say, like the throng m Piers Plowman seeking the way to Treuthe, 'This were a wikked way but who-so hadde a gyde' (B.vi.1). The Toronto Medieval Bibliographies are meant to be such guides; each title is prepared by an expert and gives directions to important work in the subject. *Publications of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 3, University of California, Los Angeles (Berkeley a