Dear readers,

Welcome to the sixth issue of Hortulus. This year our articles reflect upon exile, one of the oldest themes in literature. From the Biblical depiction of Adam and Eve, to the Life of St. Brendan, Grettir’s Saga, and the works of Dante, the pain and difficulty inherent in the experience of exile lent itself to metaphoric exploitation. In this issue, Katherine Frances explores a 14th-century poetic text written by William Paris, servant to the exiled Earl of Warwick, in her article, “A Voice in the Wilderness: Saints, Prisoners and Exiles in William of Paris’s Life of St. Christina.” She contends that by invoking the memory of a saint who also suffered exile and imprisonment, Paris sought to re-shape the perception of their banishment in a positive fashion. In our second article, “Doubling and Difference at the Close of The Wife’s Lament,” Damian Tarnopolsky argues that the doubling and ambiguity at the close of this poem, contained in the 10th-century Exeter Book, are intentionally employed to emphasize the complex psychological effects of the speaker’s exile.

We are also pleased to include four book reviews of interest to those studying and teaching the Middle Ages: Geoffrey of Monmouth: Writers of Wales by Karen Jankulak, Companion to Medieval English Literature by Michael Murphy, James Clawson et al., Medieval Literature and Postcolonial Studies by Lisa Lampert-Weissig, and Malory: The Knight Who Became King Arthur’s Chronicler by Christina Hardyment.

We hope you enjoy this issue and invite you to participate with your comments, by logging in and clicking the Discussion tab above each article. For those of you interested in contributing to the continued growth of Hortulus, we welcome new graduate student readers to our staff. A link on the website’s Contacts page provides the necessary information to apply. In addition, donations are gratefully accepted through Paypal on our homepage, and will be applied to the cost of maintaining our presence on the internet.

This year congratulations and thanks are due to Grace Windsor, who has been co-editor of Hortulus for the past two years, and a reader for this journal prior to that. Grace has graduated with a doctorate in English Literature from the National University of Ireland, Galway. The staff of Hortulus wish her all the best for the future, and we look forward to continuing her high standards and dedication in the coming year. On that note, we wish to introduce Meghan Glass as co-editor of Hortulus for the next issue. Meghan is a doctoral candidate in English Literature at Durham University. In conclusion, I would also like to express our thanks to our staff and the authors of the articles for making the sixth issue of Hortulus a success.
Tolle et lege,

Leanne Good, Co-editor