Heroic Poetry in the Anglo-Saxon Period: Studies in Honor of Jess B. Bessinger, Jr.

by Helen Damico, John Leyerle (Editor)

Damico, Helen

Hardcover

Published August 1, 1993

About the author

Born in Chios, Greece, Damico emigrated to the United States in 1937

Damico was a Professor Emerita at the University of New Mexico, where she began teaching in 1981 and founded the Institute for Medieval Studies. She was previously on the faculty of Brooklyn College and the University of Minnesota. She earned her B.A. from the University of Iowa in 1952, and received her Ph.D. from New York University in 1980.

The author of Beowulf's Wealhtheow and the Valkyrie Tradition, Damico made important contributions to the study of women in Old English and Old Norse literature, and her work on Wealhþeow is frequently cited. She saw representations of the valkyrie in both Wealhþeow and Grendel's Mother in the Old English poem Beowulf (c. 700–1000 AD).

Damico was a recipient of the New Mexico Humanities Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Humanities, and a recipient of the Medieval Academy of America's CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies.