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Professor Elaine Treharne
BA, PhD (Manchester), MArAd (Liverpool)
Professor of Medieval Literature
Contact Details:
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T: +44 (0)116 252 2636
Research Interests
Elaine specializes in late Old English and early Middle English manuscripts, their cultural contexts, contents and language. She is particularly interested in the palaeography and codicology (script and physical make-up) of these manuscripts, and the ways in which their medieval compilers selected and adapted English texts for specific contemporary audiences. This is a new and growing field of scholarly interest, and Elaine is the Co-Director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Project, 'The Production and Use of English Manuscripts, 1060 to 1220', based in the School of English. This Project, which runs from 2005-2010, aims to address fundamental research questions about English texts in the period. We shall publish an online catalogue with associated books and articles; and currently we organize conference sessions and symposia.
Elaine is also a textual editor, and has published a number of books that reflect this work including The Old English Life of St Nicholas, and Old and Middle English: An Anthology. This interest in editing and texts is also demonstrated in new work on the nature of text and textualities in medieval England, and the publication of a book, The Architextuality of Early English. In addition, Elaine is writing Living Through Conquest: The Politics of English for OUP, which will explore language and identity and the status of English in the early medieval period. She is also publishing a book on Cnut and his role as Anglo-Saxon king and Viking warrior.
Professor Treharne is Chair of the Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland, and Trustee and past-President of the English Association. She is co-convenor of the English Association Special Interest Group, The History of Books and Texts. With Greg Walker, she is General Editor of the Oxford University Press series, Oxford Textual Perspectives. She is also Medieval Editor for the Review of English Studies, an Editor for Speculum, and Medieval Editor for Blackwell's Literature Compass.
