Autobiographical Mirrors: Old English elegies as narrative "un-memoirs". [abstract].

Abstract

In this paper, Lisa Bennett analyses two Old English elegies - "The Wanderer" and "The Seafarer" – and suggests that they are medieval examples of dramatic ‘non-biographies’, or narrative ‘un-memoirs’. While these poems contain elements that are uncannily similar to conventions of autobiography, this paper discusses the notion that such similarities are not necessarily relevant to Anglo-Saxon culture, but instead are potentially revelatory in regards to Australian cultural reading and writing practices.