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Double Agents: Women and Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England 2nd ed. Edition
Author(s): Clare A. Lees (Author), Gillian R. Overing (Author)
- Publisher: University of Wales Press
- Publication Date: February 15, 2010
- Edition: 2nd ed.
- Language: English
- Print length: 256 pages
- ISBN-10: 0708321836
- ISBN-13: 9780708321836
Book Description
First published in 2001, Double Agents was the first book-length study of women in Anglo-Saxon written culture that took on the insights provided by contemporary critical and feminist theory, and it quickly established itself as a standard. Now available again, it complicates the exclusion of women from the historical record of Anglo-Saxon England by tackling the deeper questions behind how the feminine is modeled, used, and made metaphoric in Anglo-Saxon texts, even when the women themselves are absent.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Whether they are interrogating the scholarly narrative of Cædmon as the ‘father of English poetry,’ investigating the historical record for feminine literacy or considering the female saint’s body, both real and metaphorical, Lees and Overing apply crucial pressure to some of the most common assumptions about Anglo-Saxon culture.”
— Karma Lochrie, Indiana University
“Double Agents is an innovative and provocative study, adventurous in its choice of texts and stimulating in its lively and detailed engagement with them. The authors’ exploration of the complex relation of the feminine, orality and literacy will undoubtedly influence the direction of future critical enquiry.”
— Stephanie Hollis, University of Auckland
About the Author
Clare A. Lees is professor of medieval literature at King’s College London. Gillian R. Overing is professor of English at Wake Forest University. They have collaborated on a number of projects, including, most recently, A Place to Believe In: Locating Medieval Landscapes.
