Riddles at Work in the Early Medieval Tradition

Megan Cavell is Associate Professor in medieval literature at the University of BirminghamJennifer Neville is Reader in Anglo-Saxon Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

'This collection of essays on the subject of the Old English and Anglo-Latin riddling traditions is the first of its kind and represents a major contribution to the field. It promises an up-to-date ‘microcosm’ of research on these texts and largely delivers on this, with the result that any new student or scholar, particularly of the Exeter Book Riddles, is now equipped with a clear starting point for their research.'The Review of English Studies'Riddles at Work can be described variously as a generous sampler, a rich buffet, a panoramic snapshot, or a sizeable cross-section of current Anglophone scholarship on early-medieval riddles originally written in both Anglo-Latin and Old English... Riddles at Work is a product of many authors who have demonstrated their ability to delight, frustrate, amuse, baffle, excite, terrify, impress, and make the readers think and re-think, nod enthusiastically in agreement, and learn something when they have to disagree.'The Medieval Review

• Introduction – Megan Cavell, Jennifer Neville and Victoria SymonsExeter Book riddle titlesPart I: WordsIntroduction – Megan Cavell and Jennifer Neville1 Sorting out the rings: astronomical tropes in Þragbysig (R.4) – Jennifer Neville2 Wundor and wrætlic: the anatomy of wonder in the sex riddles – Sharon E. Rhodes3 Domesticating the devil: the early medieval contexts of Aldhelm’s cat riddle – Megan Cavell4 The crafting of sound in the riddles of the Exeter Book – Francesca Brooks5 Sound, voice, and articulation in the Exeter Book riddles –Robert StantonPart II: IdeasIntroduction – Megan Cavell and Jennifer Neville6 Warriors and their battle gear: conceptual blending in Anhaga (R.5) and Wæpnum Awyrged (R.20) – Karin Olsen7 Humour and the Exeter Book riddles: incongruity in Feþegeorn (R.31) – Jonathan Wilcox8 Memory and transformative fear in the Exeter Book riddles – Rafal Boryslawski9 Monstrous healing: Aldhelm’s leech riddle – Peter Buchanan10Freolic, sellic: an ecofeminist reading of Modor Monigra (R.84) – Corinne Dale11 Mind, mood and meteorology in Þrymful Þeow (R.1–3) – James PazPart III: InteractionsIntroduction – Megan Cavell and Jennifer Neville12 The nursemaid, the mother and the prostitute: tracing an insular riddle topos on both sides of the English Channel – Mercedes Salvador-Bello13 The moon and stars in the Bern and Eusebius riddles – Neville Mogford14 Enigmatic knowing and the Vercelli Book – Britt Mize15 The materiality of fire in Legbysig and Ligbysig (R.30a and b) and an unexpected new solution – Pirkko A. Koppinen16 Dyre cræft: new translations of Exeter riddle fragments Modor Monigra (R.84), Se Wiht Wombe Hæfde (R.89), and Brunra Beot (R.92), accompanied by notes on process’ – Miller Wolf ObermanAfterword – Megan Cavell and Jennifer NevilleIndex