Life in Words

This volume collects fifteen landmark essays published over the last three decades by the distinguished medievalist Jill Mann.

Jill Mann is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame and a Life Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge.
Rasmussen Mark :

Mark David Rasmussen is Charles J. Luellen Professor of English at Centre College.

‘Life in Words is a well-rounded look into Jill Mann’s catalogue… It provides unique and novel arguments to century-old discussions.’

Derek Pearsall, Gurney Professor of English Literature Emeritus, Harvard University:
“Jill Mann is the best reader and critic of Middle English literature of her generation. I have never read anything by her which left me unenlightened or uninspired by the activity of intelligence at the highest level. Rasmussen’s introductory essay is not only a measured assessment of Mann’s work as a critic: it also places that work, with great skill and learning, in the context of the history and development of criticism over the past thirty years.”

Ad Putter, Professor of Medieval English Literature, University of Bristol:
“The essays in Life in Words are models of sensitive close reading, impeccable scholarship, and beautiful and accessible writing. Mark David Rasmussen has made an intelligent and coherent selection from Jill Mann’s publications and manages both to introduce the individual pieces and to indicate the achievement they represent.”

T.S. Miller:

‘Each essay testifies to Mann’s incomparable close reading skills and enviable erudition, reflecting a careful attention to French and Latin sources over a lifetime of thinking about medieval English literature and language.’