Janet Schrunk Ericksen. Reading Old English Biblical Poetry: The Book and the Poem in Junius 11 Toronto Anglo-Saxon Series. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2021. Pp. 234. $71.00 (cloth).

In this eloquently written book, Janet Schrunk Ericksen explores both the physical history and textual contents of MS Junius 11, an illustrated book containing biblical poetry that clearly captivated its medieval readers.Junius 11 contains Old English poetic adaptations of Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, and a text known as Christ and Satan that was later grafted into the manuscript.Across her Introduction and five chapters, Ericksen artfully draws out the complexity of the manuscript, illuminating "the multidimensionality of reading in early medieval England" (5).Junius 11 offers an alluring case study for exploring the acts of compilation and reading: in some ways, the manuscript aims at a kind of coherence or wholeness; yet these attempts often come across as thwarted by fragmentary portions, interpolations, and discontinuities.However, as Ericksen argues, medieval readers would have been "comfortable with inconsistency" (4).That is, one can read the poems as accretive and sequential, but also "in isolation, in juxtaposition, or in sequence" (7).One of Junius 11's well-known stylistic quirks is that it contains several narratives that recur: three versions of the fall of the angels; two versions of the flood; and two of the Abraham and Isaac story.This repetition is the subject of Ericksen's first chapter, "The Thrice-Told Tale."Here, Ericksen considers how each version of the fall of the angels has a distinct focus: Genesis A is a poem about martial power, whereas Genesis B explores psychological interiority.Ericksen's next chapter explores Genesis B further alongside Daniel.Specifically, she is interested in the theme of "perception and discernment" (33).The choice to pair Genesis B and Daniel demonstrates her welcome practice of reading across the manuscript in ways that might at first seem counterintuitive.She argues that "B encourages the rejection of false visual presences, and Daniel emphasizes the power of true ones [building] a link between visual signs and wisdom" (75).Ericksen's points are compelling, though one wonders if more could be said about the "writing on the wall" episode at Belshazzar's feast in Daniel.It is worth noting, too, that the topic of sight and perception might also call for some engagement with Genesis A, especially prominent episodes involving seeing: Ham gazing upon his drunken father, Noah, and Lot's wife, whose disobedient gaze results in her transformation into a pillar of salt.Chapter 3 extends the question of reading and interpretation to Exodus.Ericksen argues that this densely erudite poem serves as a praise song for boceras (scholars).Following the work of Audrey Walton, Ericksen suggests that the poem's conclusion-the plundering of treasures from the Red Sea-serves as a metaphor for reading.What feels missing in this section of the book, however, is an account for the transition between Daniel and Exodus (here, Ericksen could have consulted the work of Carl Kears ("Old English Maegen: