Satan Unbound: The Devil in Old English Narrative Literature

by Peter J. Dendle

The devil is perhaps the single-most recurring character in Old English narrative literature, and yet his function in the highly symbolic narrative world of hagiography has never been systematically studied. Certain inconsistencies characteristically accompany the nebulous devil in early medieval narrative accounts - he is simultaneously bound in hell and yet roaming the earth; he is here identified as the chief of demons, and there taken as a collective term for the totality of demons; he is at one point a medical parasite and at another a psychological principle. Satan Unbound argues that these open-ended registers in the conceptualisation of the devil allowed Anglo-Saxon writers a certain latitude for creative mythography, even within the orthodox tradition. The narrative tensions resulting from the devil's protean character opaquely reflect deep-rooted anxieties in the early medieval understanding of the territorial distribution of the moral cosmos, the contested spiritual provinces of the demonic and the divine. The ubiquitous conflict between saint and demon constitutes an ontological study of the boundaries between the holy and the unholy, rather than a psychological study of temptation and sin.

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 8, 2001

About the author

Dr. Peter Jonathan Dendle is Assistant Professor of English at Pennsylvania State University, Mont Alto.

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that does what it sets out to do (showing how the Devil - and his demons - is portrayed in Old English literature, and with many quotations, both in original Old English or Latin and in translation). I like that.

[Dericky Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read!! Had to read it aloud to myself to even understand it: no wasted words!! Incredibly dense and high -level material!!!

Standout ideas: the Devil is INTEGRAL to our gift of free will, without potentially evil choices our choices for good are mechanical and not ours at all.
Also: the body of the church is comprised of God (as head) and a body (of which we are the cells). The Devil can be thought of as such a head-on-a-body of cells as well (the sinful body).

[Aisling · Rating 5 out of 5]

ok this was actually really interesing and renewed my hope in writing 3,000 words on Juliana