Thursday, August 16, 2007

Medieval Manuscripts and The Geeks That Love Them

So, in preparation for the forthcoming year, I've been reading and re-reading a variety of books on medieval literature, and it has inspired me to put together a list of favorite Medievalist resources. I'm including both books and websites in this post. I'll have to do a follow up post once I've gotten a term or two at Oxford under my belt -- I'm sure the list will increase!
So, here we are:

Books:
Bernard Bischoff, Latin Palaeography: This book is extraordinarily detailed. I'm always quoting interesting facts from it (for instance, in the later Middle Ages, extremely thin parchment was made from the skin of unborn lambs). It is considered one of the best Palaeography guides in the world.

Seamus Heaney, Beowulf: Heaney's translation is beautiful. I love how he incorporates translations of Anglo-Saxon composite words, which are lovely, into his modernization of the text.

Wace, Roman de Brut(ed. & trans. Judith Weiss): Weiss includes the original text on the facing page, even if her translation isn't always what one would wish. I included a large section on the Roman de Brut in my honors thesis. I found the way Wace identifies himself as an author extremely interesting.

Peter Damian-Grint, The New Historians of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance: An interesting look at the increase of historiography in the twelfth century renaissance.

Havelok the Dane, ed. Ronald B. Herzman, Graham Drake, and Eve Salisbury: Interesting Middle English romance

The Middle English Dictionary


Early Manuscripts at Oxford University

British Library: Turning the Pages

Yes, there are more, and I'll probably edit this post later, but for now you have a selection of my favorites.

Update: My friend Marcus reminded me of another favorite that I left out:

The Medieval Sourcebook: Full text sources online -- all free!

Thursday, August 9, 2007

The Countdown Begins

In three weeks (approximately) I will be in an airplane on my way to Heathrow. I'm nervous, excited, and scared -- it's starting to sink in that I'm actually leaving my beloved Bay Area! I can't wait for all of my relatives and friends to come visit me in my new home, but, oh I am so nervous about starting at Oxford. It sounds so intimidating, studying Medieval Literature at Oxford. Or, as one girl told me, it sounds very over the top and romantic. I'm not sure whether she meant that as a compliment or not.
At any rate, I'm worried that I won't know as much as the other grad students (the list of thirty or so books that the English department wants me to "be familiar with" before I start classes in October isn't helping), that I'll be somehow not good enough, that my acceptance was all some sort of mistake, that I'll lose my passport on my way to the airport or on the way from the airport, that my roommates won't turn out to be nearly as cool as I think they are, that the heating in my house will be broken and my poor little California self will freeze to death, and, well, you get the point.
I'm sure I'll love it once I'm there and I realize how silly I've been to be frightened of a new place!