From dragons and one-eyed giants to divine visions and friendly otters, Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley roam the strange and wonderful literary landscape of the Middle Ages, from Beowulf to Sir John Mandeville, by way of Chaucer, Sir Gawain and plenty of far-fetched romance.
Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley are both writers and historians, and regular contributors to the London Review of Books.
Medieval Beginnings is part of the Close Readings podcasts collection from the London Review of Books.
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From dragons and one-eyed giants to divine visions and friendly otters, Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley roam the strange and wonderful literary landscape of the Middle Ages, from Beowulf to Sir John Mandeville, by way of Chaucer, Sir Gawain and plenty of far-fetched romance.
Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley are both writers and historians, and regular contributors to the London Review of Books.
Medieval Beginnings is part of the Close Readings podcasts collection from the London Review of Books.
To unlock all the episodes in this series, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:
In Apple
Directly at the top of this podcast or here: https://apple.co/3XTS9H8
In Spotify and other apps
Here: lrb.me/closereadings
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In episode two of Medieval Beginnings, Mary and Irina turn the pages of the Exeter Book, a remarkable 10th century manuscript containing numerous poems and riddles, some of which are written in the voices of women. They consider in particular the enigmatic and beautiful ‘Wife’s Lament’ and ‘Wulf and Eadwacer’, and their numerous interpretations, and compare them to an extraordinary collection of letters written by influential women to St Boniface in the 8th century.
Irina Dumitrescu is Professor of English Medieval Studies at the University of Bonn and Mary Wellesley as a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and their Makers.
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