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Leonard Neidorf's monograph is a thorough, detailed analysis of scribal error in the Beowulf text, an argument for the early date and Mercian origin of the poem, and a passionate defense of traditional philological research and textual emendation.

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TOEBI

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Neidorf provides perceptive discussions... articulates a much needed theory of scribal behavior; he concisely establishes the unity of the poem.... This book is essential reading for anyone concerned with Beowulf or the study of Old English scribal practice.

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Studia Neophilologica

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For close engagement with the linguistic idiosyncrasies of Beowulf, one may turn to Leonard Neidorf’s recent study The Transmission of ‘Beowulf’: Language, culture, and scribal behavior. Here formidable scholarship provides rich insights into the attitudes and methods of the scribes who made the only surviving copy of Beowulf... [t]he evidence that he puts forward in this book, based on rigorous scrutiny of several hundred errors in Beowulf, is both fascinating and highly persuasive, and the book is indispensable reading for anyone interested in the manuscript context of Beowulf, scribal culture in Anglo-Saxon England more generally, or the early history of the English language.

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Times Literary Supplement

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[The Transmission of "Beowulf": Language, Culture, and Scribal Behavior] is an essential treatment of the subject that no student of the poem can afford to ignore. The author shows himself exceptionally knowledgeable in matters of language and metre, and readers of this book have much to be grateful for.

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The Review of English Studies

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Neidorf....obviously understands that inhibitions of this kind are profoundly unhealthy. His study is essential reading for all future editors of Old English poems and, of course, for everyone interested in Beowulf and its place in literary history.

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Saga-Book

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A short review like this hardly does justice to the genius of this astonishing book. The Transmission of Beowulf is a coup de théâtre, a scholarly manifesto of the utmost importance in its evidentiary rigor, theoretical utility, and vigorous prose. By any measure, it ranks as one of the most pivotal books ever written on Old English literature and will be recognized as a historic achievement.

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Anglia