Though mostly recognized for publishing Appalachian and regional works, the West Virginia University Press has recently received international acclaim.


A review appeared in the Jan. 10 issue of theTimes (of London) Literary Supplementhighlighting the WVU Press book”Heliand: Text and Commentary,”edited by Professor James E. Cathey of the University of Massachusetts. The work was released last spring as the first book in the PressMedieval European Studies series.


The Times Literary Supplement, a section to The (London) Timesnewspaper, has reviewed internationally acclaimed books since 1902. The supplement has a reputation equal to the New York Review of Books and its authority in literary criticism is acknowledged worldwide.


The author of the review, Professor of Medieval Literature Tom Shippey of the Department of English at St. LouisUniversity, is one of the worlds leading authorities on the life and work of J.R.R. Tolkien, author of”The Lord of the Rings.”In fact, his connection to Tolkien began when the two played on the same rugby teams as youths and continued on through their academic careers.


Shippey was a professor of medieval literature at OxfordUniversity while Tolkien was teaching there. Shippey went on to hold the chair of English language and medieval literature at LeedsUniversity that Tolkien previously held. He currently holds the Walter J. Ong Chair of Humanities at St. LouisUniversity.


In his review, Shippey praised the WVU Press for publishing the first textbook edition of the ninth century poem for English-speaking students. Heliand, which means”Savior”in Old Saxon (an early Germanic language), tells the story of the life of Christ. Approximately 3,000 of the nearly 6,000 lines of the poem are presented by Cathey in the original Old Saxon along with commentary in English, a grammar of this little-known language, and an Old Saxon to English glossary.


“Until now there has been no English text (of’Heliand’) available for students, and the standard German one goes back to Otto Behaghels of 1882,”said Shippey. He cited this new WVU Pressedition as”a useful addition to texts available for budding philologists,”and noted that the poem will have much less trouble now finding its way onto university syllabuses in English-speaking countries.


Patrick Conner, director of the WVU Press, pointed out that while he is very pleased about the attention for”Heliand: Text and Commentary,”it isnt the only book that the University Press offers the international community of scholars.


Other recent academic books published by the Press include”Oxford University Computing Service Guide to Digital Resources in the Humanities”by Frances Condron, Michael Fraser and Stuart Sutherland;”Paradise Lost: A History of Game Preservation in East Africa”by Thomas Ofcansky; and from a new series dedicated to West Virginia and Appalachia,”Transnational West Virginia: Ethnic Communities and Economic Change 1840-1940,”edited by Ronald Lewis and Ken Fones-Wolf, which details the international immigration to the state.


Also currently available is the second book in the WVU Press”Medieval European Studies”series,”Via Crucis: Essays on Early Medieval Sources and Ideas in Memory of J. E. Cross,”edited by Thomas N. Hall, Thomas D. Hill and Charles D. Wright. This collection of papers was delivered originally at a symposium of Irish and Anglo-Saxon literary culture held in honor of Cross for his extraordinary work as a scholar of Old English and Insular Latin literature.


In addition, two new titles in the Medieval series will be released this spring:”Theorizing Anglo-Saxon Stone Culture,”edited by Catherine Karkov and Fred Orton; and”Naked Before God: The Unclothed Body in Anglo-Saxon England,”edited by Benjamin Withers and Jonathan Wilcox.


For more information, call the WVU Press at 304-293-8400 or visit online athttp://www.as.wvu.edu/press/.