Leonard Neidorf (born ) is an American
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
who is Professor of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
at
Nanjing University
Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xian ...
. Neidorf specializes in the study of
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
and
Middle English literature
The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English, from the late 12th century until the 1470s. During this time the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English b ...
, and is a known authority on ''
Beowulf''.
Biography
Raised in
Voorhees Township, New Jersey
Voorhees Township is a township in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 29,131, reflecting an increase of 1,005 (+3.6%) from the 28,126 counted in the 2000 census. Voorhee ...
, Neidorf graduated from
Eastern Regional High School
Eastern Regional High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school for students in ninth through twelfth grades from Berlin Borough, Gibbsboro and Voorhees Township, three communities in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, o ...
in 2006.
He gained a
BA,
summa cum laude, in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
in 2010, and a
PhD in English from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 2014.
Upon gaining his PhD, Neidorf became a member of the
Harvard Society of Fellows
The Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginnings of their careers by Harvard University for their potential to advance academic wisdom, upon whom are bestowed distinctive opportunities to foster their individual and intell ...
(2014-2016). Admittance to the Harvard Society of Fellows is considered one of the greatest academic achievements possible in the United States.
Since 2016, Neidorf has been Professor of English at
Nanjing University
Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xian ...
.
Research
Leonard Neidorf specializes in the study of
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
and
Middle English literature
The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English, from the late 12th century until the 1470s. During this time the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English b ...
. He is known as an authority on
Beowulf. Neidorf is the author of ''The Art and Thought of the Beowulf Poet'' (2022) and ''The Transmission of Beowulf: Language, Culture, and Scribal Behavior'' (2017).
Neidorf is the editor of ''The Dating of Beowulf: A Reassessment'' (2014), which was awarded the
Outstanding Academic Title
Choice is a publishing unit of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). It includes the magazine ''Choice'' as well as other products including the ''Choice Reviews'' database. The magazine was established in 1964. It is cons ...
by
Choice
A choice is the range of different things from which a being can choose. The arrival at a choice may incorporate motivators and models. For example, a traveler might choose a route for a journey based on the preference of arriving at a give ...
in 2015, and co-editor (with
Tom Shippey
Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...
and Rafael J. Pascual) of ''Old English Philology: Studies in Honour of R.D. Fulk'' (2016). Neidorf maintains that ''Beowulf'' was probably composed by a single author in the late 7th or early 8th century AD.
For his research on ''Beowulf'', Neidorf was awarded the Beatrice White Prize from the
English Association
The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general.
It was founded in 1906 by ...
in 2020. In addition to ''Beowulf'', Neidorf has published extensively on other major Old English poems, including
Widsith
"Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the ''Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th c ...
,
Maxims, the
Finnesburg Fragment
The "Finnesburg Fragment" (also "Finnsburh Fragment") is a portion of an Old English heroic poem about a fight in which Hnæf and his 60 retainers are besieged at "Finn's fort" and attempt to hold off their attackers. The surviving text is tantal ...
, and the
Dream of the Rood
''The'' ''Dream of the Rood'' is one of the Christian poems in the corpus of Old English literature and an example of the genre of dream poetry. Like most Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. ''Rood'' is from the Old Englis ...
. His research addresses questions of authorship, interpretation, literary history, and textual criticism. In addition to his traditional philological research, Neidorf has published several large-scale quantitive studies of the corpus of Old English poetry.
Neidorf's studies of ''Beowulf'' situate the poem in a wide variety of contexts. He explicates its text in relation to
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...
and
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...
analogues, medieval traditions concerning the monstrous progeny of
Cain, and early English history and culture. In his studies of the ''Beowulf'' manuscript, Neidorf uses transcription errors in the transmitted text to extract information about the poem's textual history.
He argues that patterns of error in the extant manuscript indicate that the poem existed in written form before the middle of the eighth century. In the field of
onomastics, Neidorf contends that names in ''Beowulf'' derive from earlier oral tradition and were not invented by the poet to reflect meaningfully on their bearers. In the field of
Old English meter, Neidorf defends the metrical theories of
Eduard Sievers
Eduard Sievers (; 25 November 1850, Lippoldsberg – 30 March 1932, Leipzig) was a philologist of the classical and Germanic languages. Sievers was one of the '' Junggrammatiker'' of the so-called "Leipzig School". He was one of the most influe ...
and
Robert D. Fulk
Robert Dennis Fulk (born October 2, 1951) is an American philologist and medievalist who is Professor Emeritus of English and Germanic Studies at Indiana University Bloomington.
Biography
Robert Dennis Fulk was born in Chicago on October 2, 1951. ...
.
He argues for the utility of meter as a tool in the editing and dating of Old English poetry. In his methodological writing, Neidorf draws on the epistemology of
Karl Popper and argues for the importance of
falsifiability
Falsifiability is a standard of evaluation of scientific theories and hypotheses that was introduced by the philosopher of science Karl Popper in his book '' The Logic of Scientific Discovery'' (1934). He proposed it as the cornerstone of a s ...
and
probabilism
In theology and philosophy, probabilism (from Latin ''probare'', to test, approve) is an ancient Greek doctrine of Academic skepticism. It holds that in the absence of certainty, plausibility or truth-likeness is the best criterion. The term can ...
in literary studies.
Selected works
* ''The Dating of Beowulf: A Reassessment'', 2014
* ''Old English Philology: Studies in Honour of R.D. Fulk'', 2016
* ''The Transmission of Beowulf: Language, Culture, and Scribal Behavior'', 2017
See also
*
Robert D. Fulk
Robert Dennis Fulk (born October 2, 1951) is an American philologist and medievalist who is Professor Emeritus of English and Germanic Studies at Indiana University Bloomington.
Biography
Robert Dennis Fulk was born in Chicago on October 2, 1951. ...
*
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
*
Tom Shippey
Thomas Alan Shippey (born 9 September 1943) is a British medievalist, a retired scholar of Middle and Old English literature as well as of modern fantasy and science fiction. He is considered one of the world's leading academic experts on the ...
*
Andrew Breeze
*
Geoffrey Russom
References
External links
Leonard Neidorfat the website of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
Leonard Neidorfat
Academia.edu
Academia.edu is a for-profit open repository of academic articles free to read by visitors. Uploading and downloading is restricted to registered users. Additional features are accessible only as a paid subscription. Since 2016 various social ...
Leonard Neidorfat
ResearchGate
Leonard Neidorfat
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neidorf, Leonard
American philologists
Anglo-Saxon studies scholars
Eastern Regional High School alumni
Germanic studies scholars
Harvard University alumni
Harvard University faculty
Living people
Nanjing University faculty
New York University alumni
People from Voorhees Township, New Jersey
Year of birth missing (living people)