'Where of is Mad al Mankynde' represents a new critical edition of the collection of twenty-four late-medieval anonymous poems contained, among other pieces, in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby... Show more'Where of is Mad al Mankynde' represents a new critical edition of the collection of twenty-four late-medieval anonymous poems contained, among other pieces, in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Digby 102. Each poem is introduced with a brief summary and closes with line-for-line explanatory comments. The poems are glossed both in the margin and in footnotes. The text edition is preceded by codicological and linguistic analyses, including a discussion of dialect and dating, and by a survey of the literary and cultural background, including a discussion of the identity of the author and his audience. The text edition is followed by a comprehensive glossary, an index of names, authors and subjects, and a bibliography. Show less
Grammatical as well as poetological studies of the Rigveda have almost exclusively concentrated on the regular patterns of Vedic Grammar and Poetry. As was to be expected, irregularity of any kind... Show moreGrammatical as well as poetological studies of the Rigveda have almost exclusively concentrated on the regular patterns of Vedic Grammar and Poetry. As was to be expected, irregularity of any kind has always had a very difficult stand with scholars. Against the background of a highly regular prosodic and grammatical system, rare exceptions have been neglected, played down, or simply (dis)qualified as nonce formations, aberrations, abnormities, and even monstrosities. The further a formal excentricity deviates from the norm, the more likely it appears to me that this deviation is intended. And, not only is it to be accepted as intentional, it may convey a Surplus of Meaning that could not have been communicated in a regular way and by normal means of expression. All along the partly published (A. B. C. D.), partly unpublished (E. F.) articles that are united in this dissertation, I have enacted the role of a critically devoted advocate of the Vedic poet, taking sides with him or trying to do justice, in his apparent absence, to certain forms of irregularity. Show less
