Journal of Language and Linguistics Vol. 2 No. 2 2003 ISSN 1475 - 8989

‘And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche’:

Essays on Medieval English presented to Professor Matsuji Tajma on his Sixtieth Birthday

Ed. M. Connolly & Y. Iyeiri

ISBN 4-87571-577-3, xvi + 272 pages, indexed

Published 2002, Kaibunsha, Tokyo,

RRP US$65

It is fitting that this festschrift for Professor Matsuji Tajima, who celebrated his sixtieth birthday in 2002, should reflect his academic interests and areas of research over his career. The volume is helpfully arranged into two sections; the first presents papers on Old and Middle English language and linguistics (in which Professor Tajima has published widely) and the second focuses on medieval literature. It seems appropriate, too, that many of the articles in this volume would appear to have maintained Professor Tajima’s belief that a ‘close reading’ is ‘always the most important’ (2); for example, E.G. Stanley writes, in part, on the use of the definite article with the Old English deofol, Jun Terasawa on Beowulf, l.128, and Yoko Iyeiri on the use and development of ‘non-assertive Any’ in Middle English. This collection, however, has much to offer the student of medieval literature, moving from the specific to the more general fields of manuscript study, editing and intertextuality, whilst upholding this idea of a closeness and familiarity with the text.

The variety of focus within the collection’s literature section ensures that this volume will attract both the historian and the medievalist. Lawrence Eldredge’s article examines the theory that the ophthalmologist, Benvenutus Grassus, lectured at Montpellier. Edward Donald Kennedy looks at ‘Intertextual Complexities’ in Caxton, Malory and the French Romances; the student of manuscript tradition and culture will be drawn to Margaret Connolly’s edition of the ‘Eight Points of Charity’ from John Rylands University Library MS English 85, and to Robert E. Lewis’ comments on the Middle English Dictionary and its ‘…use of Manuscripts, Dates, and Preferred Editions…’ Those that have been taught by, or are acquainted with, Professor Tajima, will undoubtedly take pleasure from E.F.K. Koerner’s essay on ‘More Than Thirty Years of Friendship’ with him. The inclusion of a list of the published works of Tajima must necessarily also be appreciated, not least by those who know of him as an accomplished bibliographer.

Finally, the festschrift is titled with a description of Chaucer’s Oxford Clerk from the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, a tribute to a man who continues to ‘gladly…lerne and gladly teche.’ Teachers and students alike will benefit from this collection that aptly reflects the diverse interests of Professor Tajima.

Carrie Griffin

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