Table of Contents

Introduction (this chapter has two authors) - Malcolm Read and
The Concept of Germanic Antiquity - Heinrich Beck
The Literature of German Origins - Herwig Wolfram
Germania Romana - Adrian Murdoch
Germanic Religion and the Conversion to Christianity - Rudolph Simek
Orality - R. Graeme Dunphy
Runic - Klaus Duewel
Gothic -
Old Norse-Icelandic Literature - Theodore Andersson
Old English - Fred C. Robinson
Old High and Continental Old Low German -
The Old Saxon Heliand - G. Ronald Murphy

About the Author

BRIAN MURDOCH is Emeritus Professor of German at Stirling University, Scotland. He is the author of many books, including titles for both Camden House and D.S. Brewer.

Reviews

This fine volume comprises 12 mature essays written from diverse scholarly perspectives. The essays have in common good explanations, solid scholarship, and competent translations of early texts - qualities that make them fascinating even for those new to this literature. The chapter on runes is a stellar example. This excellent collection will provide solid information and departure points for further study. Highly Recommended.
*CHOICE, March 2005*

The editors have made a judicious selection of topics for this earliest period....The contributions are original to this volume and provide a very high level of information and scholarship.
*GERMAN QUARTERLY*

An excellent introduction to the world before circa 800, .... an exciting reading experience, even for nonexperts in this field. ...The editors and authors deserve praise for an insightful, concise, and highly readable collection, which might well serve as an introductory textbook for German philologists.
*GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW*

[A] pathbreaking, useful and varied book.
*COLLOQUIA GERMANICA*

The first two volumes in the Camden House History of German Literature together provide the reader with an admirably innovative guide to tackling the earliest literature in German and in related Germanic languages.
*MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW*