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Old High German Poetry: An Anthology, ed. and trans. Brian Murdoch. London: Uppsala Books, 2025, 146 pp.

by Albrecht Classen (Author)
2 Pages
Open Access
Journal: Mediaevistik Volume 39 Issue 1 Publication Year 2026 pp. 339 - 340

Summary

Undoubtedly, Brian Murdoch is one of the giants in the field of Old High German literature and now nestor of medieval German Studies in the UK, not to forget his major contributions to Celtic Studies. The list of his publications is long, and he enjoys greatest respect for his numerous scholarly accomplishments. Now he has produced an English translation of a selection of Old High German poetry, which is accompanied by the original texts on the facing pages. He is, of course, not the first editor or translator of these texts, but he offers an excellent selection and renders it very convincingly into modern English, paying much respect to the specifics of each narrative or poem. I am very glad that he did not try to imitate the lyrical elements and offers a straightforward version which mostly reads very well, though at times I might disagree a little in detail.

Details

Pages
2
DOI
10.3726/med.2026.01.66
Open Access
CC-BY
Publication date
2026 (August)
Product Safety
Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Albrecht Classen (Author)

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Title: Old High German Poetry: An Anthology, ed. and trans. Brian Murdoch. London: Uppsala Books, 2025, 146 pp.