Verbal Encounters: Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse Studies for Roberta Frank

Laila Abdalla is an associate professor of English at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, and former professor at McGill University.

This text is a collection of articles focusing on areas of exchange or
contact within and between Old English and Old Norse literature and
language. It is divided into sections on Old English language, prose,
poetry, and Old Norse literature. The themes in common are linguistic,
literary, and cultural. In “Old English Chaos,” for example,
Christopher Jones traces the etymology and concept of “chaos,”
starting with the Greek khaos, moving through pagan Latin, Christian
Latin, and finally into Old English.

Haruko Momma employs economist Veblen’s 19th-century theory to argue
that Beowulf illustrates the Anglo-Saxon culture’s nascent “leisure
class” because the hero “transition[s] from a monster-fighting
saviour [i.e., folk-tale hero] to a warrior in the leisure class [i.e.,
political self-server].” Veblen’s “Leisure Class” is predatory
in its efforts to enshrine itself as normative. Momma simplifies and
broadens Veblen’s theory, and Beowulf’s literariness and history,
for his argument. For example, Beowulf’s self-introduction makes
mention of his monster-fighting prowess but not of his dedication to
king, proving for Momma that Beowulf is not yet a politically inspired,
leisure-class hero. Momma disregards the fact that in the gesith
(Anglo-Saxon warrior society), every act committed by a thane indicates
his community-inspired role: killing monsters is serving the king.
Moreover, this speech is being made to a king for whom he plans to kill
a monster. Likewise, to undermine the folk-tale figures of “sages,”
Momma asserts that they make a mistake when they misread bloodstained
waters as omens of failure. Since Beowulf is in fact successful, the old
type of sage is rendered “unsophisticated and old fashioned.” Momma
overlooks literary tension to force this conclusion; the men are wise
warriors, not sages, and they interpret the blood (not unreasonably) as
evidence that Beowulf has been killed. Momma’s literary reading of the
poem is as forced as the theory he applies is anachronistic.

Thus, while many of the text’s articles are well researched and
intriguing, others are less so. A novice reader will have difficulty
making these distinctions.