--- title: "O'Keeffe O'Brien Katherine ed. 1997: Reading Old English Texts" description: "This is a review by A. Bravo (University of Oviedo), published in SELIM 7, of the 1997 Cambridge University Press collection… 13 references." authors: ["Antonio Bravo García"] year: 1997 venue: "SELIM 7" source: "https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/SELIM/article/view/13551" doi: "10.17811/selim.7.1997.195-206" licence: "CC BY-NC-ND (journal licence per DOAJ; SELIM)" licence_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" summary_licence: "Elamur Cosmic License" canonical: "https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/garcia-2019-o-keeffe-o-brien-katherine/" --- [Elamur Research](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/garcia-2019-o-keeffe-o-brien-katherine/) [home](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [papers](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/) / [1997](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/1997/) / O'Keeffe O'Brien Katherine ed. 1997: Reading Old English Texts # O'Keeffe O'Brien Katherine ed. 1997: Reading Old English Texts **Authors:** [Antonio Bravo García](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/authors/antonio-bravo-garcia/) · **Year:** 1997 · **Venue:** [SELIM 7](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/selim-journal-of-the-spanish-society-for-medieval-english-language-and/) ([SELIM Journal of the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature 1997](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/venues/selim-journal-of-the-spanish-society-for-medieval-english-language-and/1997/)) · **Publisher:** [University of Oviedo](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/publishers/university-of-oviedo/) · **Licence:** [CC BY-NC-ND (journal licence per DOAJ; SELIM)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) **Links:** [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.17811/selim.7.1997.195-206) · [PDF](https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/SELIM/article/download/13551/12269) · [DOI 10.17811/selim.7.1997.195-206](https://doi.org/10.17811/selim.7.1997.195-206) · [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W6963141531) **Citations:** 0 citations (OpenAlex, 2026-10-14) ## Summary This is a review by A. Bravo (University of Oviedo), published in SELIM 7, of the 1997 Cambridge University Press collection *Reading Old English Texts*, edited by Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe. The book is not a research study. It is a guide to the critical methods scholars use to interpret Old English writing. Nine chapters by established specialists each take one methodological stance. Each chapter sketches the method's history, defines it and then applies it to a concrete text. The methods covered include: - comparative reading (Lapidge) - source study (Scragg) - philology versus linguistics (Donoghue) - historicism (Howe) - oral tradition (Orchard) - post-structuralist approaches (Pasternack) - computing (Baker) The editor presents these approaches as invitations to explore, not fixed prescriptions. The reviewer finds the volume timely, clear and well suited to undergraduates. He also notes its sectioned bibliography for further reading. For a computational reader, the most relevant parts are the large-scale source registers and Baker's account of electronic resources, which ends with a caution about what machines can and cannot decide. ## Key points - The volume runs to xi + 231 pages in nine chapters, and O'Keeffe's Introduction discusses how the chapters interact. - Angus Cameron's Toronto project aimed to digitise all surviving Old English, about 3,000,000 words in roughly 2000 texts. It produced *A Microfiche Concordance to Old English* (1980) and a separate volume for the high-frequency words (1985). - Two complementary source registers work in opposite directions: - *Fontes Anglo-Saxonici* traces texts written in England back to their sources. - SASLC moves forward from Latin authors into Anglo-Saxon England. - Gneuss's *Handlist* aims to describe every manuscript written or owned in England before 1100. - Three publications of 1992 eroded the traditional boundary between philology and linguistics: the first volume of *The Cambridge History of the English Language*, Fulk's history of metre, and Hogg's grammar. Hogg sees the two fields as symbiotic. ## Interesting ideas - Fontes and SASLC index the same relation in both directions: from a text to its sources, and from a source author to their later reception. This gives full coverage of transmission links from either end. - Scragg restricts the term "source" to written material that plausibly reached the author, even if no copy survives. This keeps evidence claims disciplined. - Toronto split high-frequency words into their own concordance, so the very common items do not swamp the rest of the vocabulary. - Lapidge pairs two apparently unlike scenes, Grendel and Turnus, to bring out what is distinctive in each. The point of the comparison is the contrast, not the likeness. - Baker argues that tools can organise information but cannot decide what matters, so judgement stays with the human. ## For Mova How these ideas could serve Mova, our small open language model — its files, stages and tests: - **I1** (world): The knowledge graph could store provenance edges in both directions, so it can answer both "where did this fact come from" and "what was derived from this fact" when explaining an answer. - **I2** (learn): Silver training data could count only witness parses with a documented, traceable origin, keeping loose "agreement" out of the evidence base. - **I3** (tokens): Closed-class and very frequent words could get a dedicated lexicon and handling path in crate en, separate from open-class lemma lookup, which would make tagging decisions easier to audit. - **I4** (frames): Comparing a text's frames against a near-parallel text could reveal which roles or speech acts are unusual, which would help in spotting implicature or irony. - **I5** (learn): LLM teacher tiers could propose labels or structure while explicit, inspectable rules make the final decision, keeping every step explainable. *Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.* 📚 Shelves (3): [🎭 Arts and Humanities](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/) · 16,039 works · [🗣️ Language and Linguistics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/language-and-linguistics/) · 15,891 works · [🎭 Classics](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/shelves/arts-and-humanities/classics/) · 116 works 🧭 Topics (2): [English](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/english/) · 2,263 works · [⏳ Historical linguistics & language change](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/topics/language-change/) · 249 works ## Cite Cite as: Antonio Bravo García. 1997. O'Keeffe O'Brien Katherine ed. 1997: Reading Old English Texts. SELIM 7. The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. ```bibtex @inproceedings{garcia1997o, title = {{O'Keeffe O'Brien Katherine ed. 1997: Reading Old English Texts}}, author = {Antonio Bravo García}, booktitle = {SELIM 7}, year = {1997}, doi = {10.17811/selim.7.1997.195-206}, url = {https://doi.org/10.17811/selim.7.1997.195-206} } ``` - [← previous MT at the paragraph level: improving English synthesis in SYSTRAN](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/hovy-1997-mt-paragraph-level-improving-english/) - [next → Old and Middle English Bibliography 1997-1998](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/garcia-2019-old-middle-english-bibliography-1997/) - [↑ back to papers of 1997](https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/1997/) ## References 13 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet. 1. Chadwick, H. M. 1912: The Heroic Age. CUP. Cambridge. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Chadwick%2C+H%2E+M%2E+1912%3A+The+Heroic+Age%2E+CUP%2E+Cambridge%2E) 2. Fokkema, D. W. 1967: Comparatve Literature and the New Paradigm. Canadian Review of Comparative Literature. 9: 1-18. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Fokkema%2C+D%2E+W%2E+1967%3A+Comparatve+Literature+and+the+New+Paradigm%2E+Canadian+Review+of+Comparative+Literature%2E+9%3A+1%2D18%2E) 3. Fulk, R. D. 1992. History of Old English Meter. Philadelphia. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Fulk%2C+R%2E+D%2E+1992%2E+History+of+Old+English+Meter%2E+Philadelphia%2E) 4. Girvan R. 1935. Bowulf and the Seventh Century. Methuen, London. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Girvan+R%2E+1935%2E+Bowulf+and+the+Seventh+Century%2E+Methuen%2C+London%2E) 5. Greenfield S. & F. Robinson. eds. 1972: A Bibliography of Publications on Old English Literature to the End of 1972. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Greenfield+S%2E+%26+F%2E+Robinson%2E+eds%2E+1972%3A+A+Bibliography+of+Publications+on+Old+English+Literature+to+the+End+of+1972%2E+University+of+Toronto+Press%2C+Toronto%2E) 6. Huppé, B. 1959: Doctrine and Poetry: Augustine’s Influence on Old English Poetry. State University New York Press, Albany. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Hupp%C3%A9%2C+B%2E+1959%3A+Doctrine+and+Poetry%3A+Augustine%E2%80%99s+Influence+on+Old+English+Poetry%2E+State+University+New+York+Press%2C+Albany%2E) 7. Magoun, F. 1953: Oral-Formulaic Character of Anglo-saxon Narrative Poetry. Speculum 28: 446-67. [↗](https://doi.org/10.2307/2847021) 8. Mitchell, Bruce 1985: Old English Syntax. Blackwell, Oxford. A. Bravo University of Oviedo ____________________________________________________________________ Ogilvy, J. D. 1981 (1967): Books Known to the English, 597-1066. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. [↗](https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119357.001.0001) 9. Robinson, F. 1985: Beowulf and the Appositive Style. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Robinson%2C+F%2E+1985%3A+Beowulf+and+the+Appositive+Style%2E+University+of+Tennessee+Press%2C+Knoxville%2E) 10. Tolkien, J. R. R. 1936: Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics. PBA 22. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Tolkien%2C+J%2E+R%2E+R%2E+1936%3A+Beowulf%3A+The+Monsters+and+the+Critics%2E+PBA+22%2E) 11. Wellek, R. 1963: Concepts of Criticism. Yale University Press, New Haven. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Wellek%2C+R%2E+1963%3A+Concepts+of+Criticism%2E+Yale+University+Press%2C+New+Haven%2E) 12. Wellek, R. 1970: Discriminations: Further Concepts of Criticism. Yale University Press, New Haven. Zhirmunsky. [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Wellek%2C+R%2E+1970%3A+Discriminations%3A+Further+Concepts+of+Criticism%2E+Yale+University+Press%2C+New+Haven%2E+Zhirmunsky%2E) 13. V. 1967: On the Study of Comparative Literature. Oxford Slavonic Papers 13 i-13. * † * [find](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=V%2E+1967%3A+On+the+Study+of+Comparative+Literature%2E+Oxford+Slavonic+Papers+13+i%2D13%2E+%2A+%E2%80%A0+%2A) *Updated 1 November 2026*