"Material culture and ecocriticism in the Exeter Book riddles: a new perspective on Old English enigmatic texts."

Abstract

"The purpose of this paper is to interpret the riddles of the Exeter Book by reconsidering previous and modern research, claiming that the descriptions of many subjects through different devices offer the reader an insight into Anglo-Saxon sense of playfulness, material culture, literary and ecological consciousness. First chapter analyses riddle genre starting with a historical approach, showing how it could be considered one of the most ancient kinds of literature. In chapter two Anglo-Saxon riddle production and its circulation is investigated. Third chapter has its focus on how the range of different subjects of the Exeter Book riddles provides insight into social relationships. Chapter four and five take into consideration two different approaches, anthropocentrism and ecocriticism, focusing on the meaning of material culture, how Anglo-Saxon interacted with things (non-human objects but also nature) and how interactions affected the concepts of time and modification.

The aim is to achieve some knowledge regarding Anglo Saxon perception of life, what it meant for them being inhabitants of the natural world. As a literary genre built upon metaphor, riddles are a perfect example to show how all things shift shape as time unfolds. Riddles solutions have long been object of study and still are under investigation, it is important to not forget the main characteristic of the genre: the fact that it is difficult to solve since it was meant to be a way of entertaining people through the intricacy of the given question. In fact, sometimes riddles do not have a ‘right’ answer, they simply allow for deeper thinking regarding a topic or issue, acknowledging other questions to arise in a critical reading, interrogating many aspects on different levels. "