{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/23565"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/23565","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"\"Narration and vision in the Old English \"\"Genesis B\"\"\"","abstract":"The Old English poem Genesis B is a complex narrative representation of the actions and motivations of Satan, Adam, and Eve, based on a theological understanding of these characters' modes of perception and capacity for spiritual vision. Its narrative concurrently is a description of the biblical events of Adam and Eve's fall, a dramatic development of that story, and a commentary on it. Identifying these pieces and their interaction reveals ways in which religious tradition and learning became part of narrative structure in Genesis B.","abstract_html":"The Old English poem Genesis B is a complex narrative representation of the actions and motivations of Satan, Adam, and Eve, based on a theological understanding of these characters' modes of perception and capacity for spiritual vision. Its narrative concurrently is a description of the biblical events of Adam and Eve's fall, a dramatic development of that story, and a commentary on it. Identifying these pieces and their interaction reveals ways in which religious tradition and learning became part of narrative structure in Genesis B.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ericksen, Janet A.S."],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Literature, Classical","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Wright, Charles D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-05-07T14:18:53Z","date_published":"2011-05-07T14:18:53Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:22Z","subjects":["Literature, Classical","Literature, English"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["Copyright 1994 Ericksen, Janet A. S."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9416357","(UMI)AAI9416357"],"render_values":[{"text":"AAI9416357","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"(UMI)AAI9416357","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/23565","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Wright, Charles D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ericksen, Janet A.S."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-05-07T14:18:53Z","10000-01-01","1994"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Literature, Classical","Literature, English"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Literature, Classical","Literature, English"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 1994 Ericksen, Janet A. S."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["AAI9416357","(UMI)AAI9416357","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/23565"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The Old English poem Genesis B is a complex narrative representation of the actions and motivations of Satan, Adam, and Eve, based on a theological understanding of these characters' modes of perception and capacity for spiritual vision. Its narrative concurrently is a description of the biblical events of Adam and Eve's fall, a dramatic development of that story, and a commentary on it. Identifying these pieces and their interaction reveals ways in which religious tradition and learning became part of narrative structure in Genesis B.","The series of references to likeness or unlikeness in the poem simultaneously invokes codified, orthodox discussions of the regio dissimilitudinis and reveals a theological dimension to the narrative focalization. The description of Adam's and Eve's interactions with the devil and their reactions to temptation also suggest that the poet had some knowledge of more speculative theological ideas concerning the holy gift of discretio spirituus. Chapters two and three, respectively, address the roles of the land of unlikeness and the discernment of spirits in Genesis B, both in terms of the relationship between the language of the poem and these theological ideas, and in the ways in which these ideas become part of the structure of this particular Genesis narrative. Unlikeness helps to delineate shifts in spiritual condition and the accompanying shift in actual vision; discernment of spirits reinforces the orthodox characterization of Eve.","The picture that emerges from this examination of how doctrinal and exegetical sources have been configured as narrative is one of a richly theological and yet character-oriented narrative. What prevents Genesis B from being character-centered, rather than simply having characters developed beyond the biblical text, is the extent and tenor of the narrator's comments on their actions. The interaction between the narrator's voice and the characters' speech, and the overlapping alternation between overt commentary on actions and simple narration of them, reveals an emphasis on Eve's actions and on the more general difficulty of interpretation. The fourth chapter delineates the interplay between these forms of narrative discourse, and suggests some of the implications this narrative structure might have on our perception of the poem's early medieval audience.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T14:18:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9416357.pdf: 6720865 bytes, checksum: e77f054008aeec317f99eddb2715592c (MD5) Previous issue date: 1994","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T15:05:20Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:31:17-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["\"Narration and vision in the Old English \"\"Genesis B\"\"\""]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Wright, Charles D."],"dc:creator":["Ericksen, Janet A.S."],"dc:date":["2011-05-07T14:18:53Z","10000-01-01","1994"],"dc:description":["The Old English poem Genesis B is a complex narrative representation of the actions and motivations of Satan, Adam, and Eve, based on a theological understanding of these characters' modes of perception and capacity for spiritual vision. Its narrative concurrently is a description of the biblical events of Adam and Eve's fall, a dramatic development of that story, and a commentary on it. Identifying these pieces and their interaction reveals ways in which religious tradition and learning became part of narrative structure in Genesis B.","The series of references to likeness or unlikeness in the poem simultaneously invokes codified, orthodox discussions of the regio dissimilitudinis and reveals a theological dimension to the narrative focalization. The description of Adam's and Eve's interactions with the devil and their reactions to temptation also suggest that the poet had some knowledge of more speculative theological ideas concerning the holy gift of discretio spirituus. Chapters two and three, respectively, address the roles of the land of unlikeness and the discernment of spirits in Genesis B, both in terms of the relationship between the language of the poem and these theological ideas, and in the ways in which these ideas become part of the structure of this particular Genesis narrative. Unlikeness helps to delineate shifts in spiritual condition and the accompanying shift in actual vision; discernment of spirits reinforces the orthodox characterization of Eve.","The picture that emerges from this examination of how doctrinal and exegetical sources have been configured as narrative is one of a richly theological and yet character-oriented narrative. What prevents Genesis B from being character-centered, rather than simply having characters developed beyond the biblical text, is the extent and tenor of the narrator's comments on their actions. The interaction between the narrator's voice and the characters' speech, and the overlapping alternation between overt commentary on actions and simple narration of them, reveals an emphasis on Eve's actions and on the more general difficulty of interpretation. The fourth chapter delineates the interplay between these forms of narrative discourse, and suggests some of the implications this narrative structure might have on our perception of the poem's early medieval audience.","Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-07T14:18:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license.txt: 4922 bytes, checksum: 910b249b4beec47e7ab768910c8f966f (MD5) 9416357.pdf: 6720865 bytes, checksum: e77f054008aeec317f99eddb2715592c (MD5) Previous issue date: 1994","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Howard Ding (hding2@illinois.edu) on 2011-05-07T15:05:20Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:31:17-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","ETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permission","U of I Only"],"dc:identifier":["AAI9416357","(UMI)AAI9416357","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/23565"],"dc:language":["eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 1994 Ericksen, Janet A. S."],"dc:subject":["Literature, Classical","Literature, English"],"dc:title":["\"Narration and vision in the Old English \"\"Genesis B\"\"\""],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Literature, Classical","Literature, English"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:22Z"}