Abstract This chapter has eleven sections: 1. Bibliography; 2. Manuscript Studies, Palaeography, and Facsimiles; 3. Cultural and Intellectual Contexts; 4. Literature: General; 5. The Poems of the Exeter Book; 6. The Poems of the Vercelli Book; 7. The Poems of the Junius Manuscript; 8. Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript; 9. Other Poems; 10. Prose; 11. Reception. Sections 1, 9, and 11 are by Eleni Ponirakis; section 2 is by Rachel Burns and Colleen Curran, with contributions by Eleni Ponirakis; sections 3, 4, and 10 are by Margaret Tedford, with contributions from Eleni Ponirakis in section 3; section 5 is by Niamh Kehoe; section 6 is by Rebecca Hardie; section 7 is by Emma Knowles; section 8 is by Kaifan Yang.

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Read together, these three plays offer a cross sectional perspective of recent English-Canadian drama. Commissioned by Montreal’s Centaur Theatre, Colleen Curran’s Sacred Hearts was workshopped during The Blyth Festival Winter Writers’ Retreat of December 1987 and also at the Banff Playwrights’ Colony of May-June 1988, both venues once again showing their importance as fosterers of new mainstream Canadian playwrights and their work. On the other hand, Scientific Americans premièred for Contemporary Theatre in New York City in October of 1988 and had its first Canadian production at Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, in November of 1988. And Daniel MacIvor’s two one-act plays suggest some of the directions that Toronto’s alterative theatre may be taking. Offering a considerable contrast to the styles and concerns of Curran’s and Mighton’s work, See Bob Run was first produced by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and Da Da Kamera at the Poor Alex Theatre, Toronto, in 1987. Wild Abandon was first produced by Sword Theatre in association with Theatre Passe Muraille in 1988. Although their central characters are ostensibly in flight from yuppie-dom, Curran’s tale of a miracle born in a spiritual vacuum and Mighton’s portrait of the moral desiccation of scientific endeavour differ sharply from the bleak confessionalism of MacIvor’s underclass characters, Bob and Steve who, precisely because of such spiritual and moral malaise, live lives devoid of real choice, without the luxury of the comfy introspection of Curran’s Bridget or Mighton’s Jim.