Stealing obedience : narratives of agency and identity in later Anglo-Saxon England / Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Brien O'Keeffe, Katherine, 1948-

Series:

Toronto Anglo-Saxon series ; 11.

Toronto Anglo-Saxon series ; 11

Language:

English

English, Old (ca. 450-1100)

Latin

Subjects (All):

Wulfstan, of Winchester, active 1000. Life of St. Aethelwold.

Wulfstan.

English literature--Old English, ca. 450-1100--History and criticism.

English literature.

Obedience in literature.

Agent (Philosophy) in literature.

Identity (Philosophical concept) in literature.

Physical Description:

xiv, 300 pages, 1 unnumbered leaf of plates : 2 illustrations (1 color) ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Narratives of agency and identity in later Anglo-Saxon England

Place of Publication:

Toronto [Ont.] ; Buffalo [N.Y.] : University of Toronto Press, [2012]

Language Note:

Includes some text in Latin and Old English.

Summary:

Explores how a Christian notion of freedom incurring responsibility was a component of identity, examining secular writings, liturgy, canon and civil law, chronicle, dialogue, and hagiography to analyze the practice of obedience in the monastic context.

"Narratives of monastic life in Anglo-Saxon England depict individuals as responsible agents in the assumption and performance of religious identities. To modern eyes, however, many of the 'choices' they make would actually appear to be compulsory. Stealing Obedience explores how a Christian notion of agent action -- where freedom incurs responsibility -- was a component of identity in the last hundred years of Anglo-Saxon England, and investigates where agency (in the modern sense) might be sought in these narratives. Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe looks at Benedictine monasticism through the writings of Ælfric, Anselm, Osbern of Canterbury, and Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, as well as liturgy, canon and civil law, chronicle, dialogue, and hagiography, to analyse the practice of obedience in the monastic context. Stealing Obedience brings a highly original approach to the study of Anglo-Saxon narratives of obedience in the adoption of religious identity"--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Introduction : on stealing obedience

Dunstan in the theatre of choice

'Esto quod es' : Ælfric's Colloquy and the imperatives of monastic identity

Edith's choice

Leaving Wilton : Gunhild and the phantoms of agency

The silence of Eve.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [253]-279) and index.

ISBN:

9780802097071

0802097073

OCLC:

762958655