Description: Richard North offers a complete revision of our view of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian paganism and mythology in the pre-Viking and Viking age. He discusses the pre-Christian gods of Bede's history of the Anglo-Saxon conversion with reference to a god known as Ingui. Using expert knowledge of comparative literary material from Old Norse-Icelandic and other Old Germanic languages, North reconstructs the slender Old English evidence in an imaginative and original treatment of poems such as "Deor" and "The Dream of the Rood."
Review Quotes: "Heathen Gods in Old English Literature is a clever book, packed full of interesting data and provocative speculations, bristling with erudition. For its part, Cambridge University Press has, as usual, produced a good-looking and well-proofread book....North has undisputed integrative talent, imagination, and intellecual courage. His book is filled with astute observations, inspired guesses and exciting analyses." Oren Falk, Envoi