Yee? Baw For Bokes, Essays on Medieval Manuscripts and Poetics

Some of the most prominent figures in medieval literature and textual studies have assembled to offer essays on Middle English manuscripts and verse in honor of Hoyt N. Duggan ( Dug ). Duggan is a pioneer in matters of medieval prosody and the founder of the Piers Plowman Electronic Archive, an ambitious project in digital-textual archaeology. Duggan s project is based on antique books, but it is an innovation in the history of all books; unlocking, in unprecedented detail, manuscript evidence that has stood silent or occluded for centuries. Inspired by Duggan s work, the contributing authors study not only handwritten artifacts, but also the labor and craft that produced them, their poetic artistry, and their complex roles in religious, literary, and social history. Because Duggan s accomplishment is so influential, writing essays in his honor allowed the contributors to engage some of the most important current topics in medieval studies. The first six essays confront issues in the composition and authorship of medieval texts, including metrics and scribal intervention. The following seven essays consider the reception and use of texts in the manuscripts in which they are found. Striving to display unity and focus, the essays in this collection all work directly with Middle English manuscripts, the only remaining witnesses to the voices of the Middle Ages. The essays also speak to and complement one another with an awareness that one seldom sees in festschrifts. Piers Plowman itself is the subject of at least half of the essays, and students of that last great pre-Reformation English poem will find here a deep resource of new information.