Anine Olsen Englund

anine englund
DPhil Candidate
Balliol College
anine.englund@balliol.ox.ac.uk

Supervisor: Professor Francis Leneghan

Thesis title: Re-contextualising the Old English Soul and Body

 

Research interests: Old English literature; Beowulf; Characterisation of Judgement Day in Old English poetry; Soul and Body relationships; Germanic heroic culture and literature; Old Norse-Icelandic literature; Medievalism; J. R. R. Tolkien

 

My thesis examines the Old English poem Soul and Body (extant in both the Vercelli Book and Exeter Book) in depth, not only looking at the poem as part of a wider Old English soul-and-body tradition — which includes homilies — but also within the wider context of Old English poetry and learning. The thesis will be divided into four chapters, each dealing with a separate aspect of the Soul and Body poem: I) The Spiritual and Material Interim Context; II) The Blessed Soul's Address and the Orthodox Soul–Body Relationship; III) The Damned Soul's Address and the Culpability of Sin; and IV) Soul and Body and Judgement Day. 

 

Publications:

  • Englund, Anine Olsen, "Ricard Z. Gallant, Germanic Heroes, Courage, and Fate: Northern Narratives of Tolkien's Legendarium" (book review), Journal of Inkling Studies 14 (2024) (forthcoming). 
  • Englund, Anine Olsen, "Michael Fox, Following the Formula in 'Beowulf', 'Örvar-Odds Saga', and Tolkien" (book review), Journal of Inkling Studies 12 (2022), 271-273. 

 

Lectures given:

  • "In the Halls of Mandos": Death, Deathlessness, and Inter-racial Relations in Beren and Lúthien. (Part of Tolkien 50th Anniversary Seminar Series; Week 8 HT, 8th March 2024). See lecture online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y6RHaLHqUw 

 

Conference papers given

  • 18 September 2024 - 34 International Conference of SELIM (University of Granada) - The Journey of the Soul Motif in Old English Poetry: A Comparative Study
  • 22 August 2024 - The Middle Ages in the 20th and 21st Centuries: Relevance, Reimagination, Inspiration (University of Stavanger) - Völuspá and The Prophecy of the Oracle: Inter-textuality and Meta-textuality in The Gospel of Loki (2014)
  • 3 July 2024 - International Medieval Congress (IMC) (University of Leeds) – The Crisis of the Soul: Preparing for Judgement Day in Old English Eschatological Poetry
  • 22 May 2024 – Old Norse and Old English Symposium (University of Oslo) – The Journey of the Soul Motif in Old English Poetry: A Comparative Study
  • 13 September 2023 – 33rd International Conference of SELIM (University of Málaga) – Exploring Soul and Body Doctrine through Soul and Body and the Riddle Tradition in Early Medieval England