Thomas Klein

Professor of English; Director of Graduate Studies in English

Office: LA 242

208-282-2893

thomasklein@isu.edu

EDUCATION

PhD, Medieval Studies (1998), University of Toronto

MA, Medieval Studies (1992), University of Toronto

BA, Medieval Studies and the Epic (1990), Kenyon College

Diploma, Italian Language and Culture (1989), Università per Stranieri, Perugia, Italy

As a philologist, I'm interested in early medieval writing, and how knowledge is represented in physical form. Recently, I have written a series of articles on Anglo-Saxon riddles and inscribed objects, including the Franks Casket, the Staffordshire Hoard, and the Vindolanda tablets.

I enjoy teaching all my classes, from Composition to Old English. I find that there is always occasion for shared inquiry and discovery in the classroom, and I feel fortunate to be able to work with students and colleagues at ISU, as well as the larger community in Pocatello.

Selected Publications

"Scribal interpretation of problematic passages in Old English poetry: Insights from theories of textual difficulty," Studia Neophilologica (June 2024).

“Old English Wlitan and Wlatian: Poetic Verbs of Looking (and Seeing),” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, (September 2023).

“'Savage' and 'Medieval' in C. S. Lewis’s The Discarded Image," Neophilologus: Journal of Modern and Medieval Language and Literature (March 2023).

"Does preverbal Old English ge- have semantic or aspectual force?: evidence from the Dictionary of Old English." Studia Neophilologica (January 2022).

“Pater Occultus: The Latin Bern Riddles and their Place in Early Medieval Riddling,” Neophilologus: Journal of Modern and Medieval Language and Literature (July 2019).

“Old and New Technologies of Asynchronous Communication: Virtual Narratives and ‘Presence’”. In Narrative, Identity, and Academic Community in Higher Education, ed. Attebery, Gribas, McBeth, Sivitz, and Turley-Ames (Routledge, 2017).

"The Metaphorical Cloak of Exeter Book Riddle 83, 'Ore / Gold / Metal'," ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews (June 2015).

"Of Water and the Spirit: Metaphorical Focus in Exeter Riddle 74." Review of English Studies (February 2015)

"The Non-Coherence of the Franks Casket: Reading Text, Image, and Design on an Early Anglo-Saxon Artifact." Viator (Summer 2014).

"The Inscribed Gold Strip in the Staffordshire Hoard: The Text and Script of an early Anglo-Saxon Biblical Inscription." Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History (2013).

"Dialect and Word Choice in Old English: Two Case Studies with Old English Perception Verbs." Anglia: Journal of English Philology (2012).

"Anglo-Saxon Literacy and the Roman Letters on the Franks Casket." Studia Neophilologica (May 2009).

"The Ghostly Voice of Gossip in Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily.'" The Explicator (Summer 2007).

"Stanc æfter stane (Beowulf, l. 2288): Philology, Narrative Context, and the Waking Dragon." Journal of English and Germanic Philology (January 2007).

"Six Colour Words in the Pearl Poet: Middle English Blake, Blayke, Blaht, Blo, Blwe and Ble." Studia Neophilologica (Spring 2000).

"The Old English Translation of Aldhelm’s Riddle Lorica." Review of English Studies (1997).

"In Praise of Bald Men: A Translation of Hucbald’s Ecloga de calvis." Comitatus (1996).

"Words for the Colour Orange in Italian." Quaderni d’italianistica (1994).