Description

James E. Cathey's Hêliand: Text and Commentary is a simply unique, wonderfully encompassing, and helpful text, and nothing quite like it exists anywhere in the world. The commentary portion of the book consists of an interweaving of interpretation and philological consideration. This work presents the reader with explanatory commentary that encompasses both the scientific and the poetic and treats them both with equal felicity. The volume also contains something that is exceptionally valuable and cannot be found in English: a compact and serviceable grammar of Old Saxon and an appended glossary that defines all of the vocabulary found in this edited version of the Hêliand.

About the Author

James E. Cathey is Professor Emeritus of German and Scandinavian studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research interests include Germanic linguistics, Scandinavian languages, Finnish, and Old Saxon. He teaches several classes in these areas at the university, along with Swedish.

Praise For…

"As someone who has taught the Hêliand and had to go to unheard of lengths of photocopying to bring together diverse and difficult to find texts, I cannot tell you how genuinely helpful Cathey's work will be. It will be the version for students in North America, and quite probably abroad as well."
G. Ronald Murphy, Georgetown University

"...a useful addition to texts available for budding philologists."
Tom Shippey, The Times Literary Supplement

"As a means of introducing students to this fascinating world and challenging text, Cathey's study should prove to be valuable, and one may hope that its publication will indeed contribute to growth in the interest of English speakers for the Old Saxon world."
John M. Jeep, Speculum