Manuscript, Narrative, Lexicon: Essays on Literary and Cultural Transmission in Honor of Whitney F. Bolton. Edited by Robert Boenig and Kathleen Davis. Lewisburg, Penn.: Bucknell University Press; London: Associated University Presses, 2000. Pp. 261. $44.50.

The Rhetorical Poetics of the Middle Ages: Reconstructive Polyphony: Essays in Honor of Robert O. Payne. Edited by John M. Hill and Deborah M. Sinnreich-Levi. Teaneck, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; London: Associated University Presses, 2000. Pp. 304. $52.50.

These two festschriften display the characteristic virtues and defects of the genre. They honor the careers and influence of two well-known medievalists, with essays from former students, colleagues, and friends. With varying degrees of assiduousness, these essays also pay homage to the scholarly preoccupations of the honorees. Inevitably, since the contributors were chosen because of their friendship or professional acquaintance with the book's recipient, the essays are not of uniform quality and interest; and since the unifying focus of a festschrift is above all the person whose photograph constitutes its frontispiece, only a few people are likely to read these books from beginning to end. The reviewer's task, in effect, is to summarize their contents.

John M. Fyler
Tufts University