2023/01/10 by Dempster-Edwards, Holly
#FOS: Humanities #Medieval Civilization
paper · doi:10.57686/256204/21
Jane Bliss’ Anglo-Norman Reader promises ‘a new departure in Anthologies, a Reader with a difference’ (p. 1), and it does not fail to deliver. The book focuses on the ‘importance of readership’ (p. 1), both medieval and modern, and organises its collection following the generic criteria established in Ruth Dean’s Anglo-Norman Literature (1999). Without claiming to be exhaustive, Bliss presents a wide range of literary and non-literary Anglo-Norman texts from across the Middle Ages — covering themes from medieval medicine to murderous monarchs — many of which have not appeared in other anthologies. This structure reflects the frequent ‘juxtaposition within manuscripts of courtly and comic, religious and obscene’ (pp. 6–7). The book is easily accessible as it can be viewed online for free; it is also possible to download a free XML or PDF version (https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0110).