Beowulf was Tolkien’s lodestar.Everything he did led up to or away from it.” —New Yorker J.R.R. Occasionally a deviation has been made, but always for … Beowulf should be represented as it was found, and not altered to what you think it should be. OP if you haven't already read Beowulf, Heaney is a great place to start and all you need. Maria Dahvana Headley’s revisionist translation infuses the Old English poem with feminism and social-media slang. Translations of 'Beowulf' Originally written in Old English, the first translation of the poem was into Latin by Thorkelin, in connection with his transcription of 1818. A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of the much-buzzed-about novel The Mere Wife"Brash and belligerent, lunatic and envigorating, with passages of sublime poetry punctuated by … Brought Beowulf as a guard against Grendel and a shield . The Spear-Danes in days gone by And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness. Beowulf: A New Translation By Maria Dahvana Headley Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020 ISBN: 9780374110031. The translation was named by Kirkus, NPR and The New Statesman as a Book of the Year. Rated: R. This is purely a medieval action flick with plotting loosely based on … . "The new translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahavana Headley is the best thing I've read all fucking year" -Mike Drucker, TV Writer and Comedian "Enthralling, scalding . Headley combines newly-wrought ancient kennings with US street slang and lights up the women in the poem with unusual sympathy (including Grendel's mother and the dragon). . I recommend them both. Two years later Nicolai Grundtvig made the first translation into a modern language, Danish. I think by that focusing on the specific instance of what a translation does at the level of line and word, some ideas become clear of what general principles motivate that translation. So ought a young man by good deeds deserve, fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme (and) by fine treasure-gifts, while in his father's keeping, Behind whom the king could safely rest. My family is making me write out an X-mas list, I told my Sister and Brother-in-law that they could get me a cheap copy of Beowulf (they will be getting it from e-bay no doubt), so what authors should I have them looking for? Named a Book of the Year by NPR The New Statesman. A new translation of the epic takes its cues from ‘Road House’ — proving Beowulf was literature’s original guy’s guy As long as we have the text, we’ll never stop translating Beowulf . A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of the much-buzzed-about novel The Mere Wife "Brash and belligerent, lunatic and envigorating, with passages of sublime poetry punctuated by obscenities and … Tolkien completed his translation of Beowulf in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication.This edition includes an illuminating written commentary on the poem by the … . I'm contemplating getting the Norton Critical Edition which is translated by Seamus Heaney, but I thought I'd ask here. In selecting a translation of Beowulf, it would seem that the best choice might be one which captures the spirit of the language as well as the meaning. Director: Sturla Gunnarsson. Charles Darnay. Picked for Kirkus Reviews’ Best Fiction in Translation of 2020. The source material is not as great as Homer or Dante, but the translation is wonderful nonetheless. View Profile View Forum Posts Both Kevin Crossley-Holland and Michael Alexander do a much better job. Hammered from the hardest iron, and handed . Part of what makes the translation so compelling is clear, contemporary vocabulary and salty slang. 2005. Note that some authors have more than one translation. Heaney's meddling - and other shortcomings - make his an awkward translation. This Beowulf is a joy to read: Headley has loosened herself from the shackles of stuffy scholarship and archaic language (although do not be fooled – she is adept at understanding her source material) to provide a rollicking good yarn. Approximately, I repeat; for a very close reproduction of Anglo-Saxon verse would, to a large extent, be prose to a modern ear.. Picked for Loyalty Books' Holiday List. Skip Eaters of the Dead, Grendel, and all the other derivatives. Burton Raffel's 1963 verse translation of Beowulf remains popular due to its simple, accessible language. Named a Book of the Year by NPR, Vox, and The New Statesman. Beowulf (Beaw) was famed --his renown spread wide--Scyldes eafera Scedelandum in. Finally, I still like the Longfellow translation, although much of the language is a bit archaic (and some of it is bowdlerized, to use the OP's word). Best Beowulf Translation? . Swá sceal geong guma góde gewyrcean: 20. As expressed in the ‘Vorbemerkung,’ the aim of the translator was (1) to provide a readable translation ‘für unser modernes Publicum,’ and (2) to make a convenient handbook for the student, so that the beginner, with Grein’s text1 and the present translation, might read the Beowulf with no very great difficulty. Picked for Loyalty Books’ Holiday List. Tolkien's translation is not the best, and I think even Tolkien agreed. A “Beowulf” for Our Moment. 08-27-2012, 10:13 PM #2. Nearly twenty years after Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf—and fifty years after the translation that continues to torment high-school students around the world—there is … Picked for Kirkus Reviews’ Best Fiction in Translation of 2020. Reviewed by Thelma Trujillo. Picked for Kirkus Reviews' Best Fiction in Translation of 2020. Headley combines newly-wrought ancient kennings with US street slang and lights up the women in the poem with unusual sympathy (including Grendel's mother and the dragon). "The new translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahavana Headley is the best thing I've read all fucking year" -Mike Drucker, TV Writer and Comedian "Enthralling, scalding . He stripped off his mail shirt, his helmet, his sword . As a brief historical outline, the Thorkelin translation of Beowulf was into Latin, the 1820 Grundtvig translation was into Danish, and while the 1826 Conybeare translation was in English it only consisted of parts of the poem. An Irish Times and Vox Best Book of 2020 A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of The Mere Wife. This does not mean that there should be a line-for-line, word-for-word alliteration. Maria Dahvana Headley’s breathtakingly audacious and idiomatically rich Beowulf: A New Translation is a breath of iconoclastically fresh air … We have all been dazzled, tormented, or utterly unmoved by the Old English epic poem, Beowulf.Composed between the seventh and tenth century CE, the poem was transcribed in a single manuscript, now known as “The Nowell … This unassuming little paperback is the best Beowulf translation ever written. Written in Old English by an unknown poet, Beowulf is a cornerstone of English and Western literature.Scholars believe the poem was written somewhere between the years 700 and 1000 and that the only manuscript that has survived was produced between 975 and 1010.. Stephen Mitchell, translator of a recently published version of Beowulf (Yale University Press), … . The first translation into modern English was made by J. M. Kemble in 1837. . So to start us off, here is a passage from R. D. Fulk’s Beowulf, found in his The Beowulf Manuscript (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, 2010). I did read nearly all of Headley’s version aloud, and I think that was the best way to absorb what is a great strength of her version; it’s translated with a poet’s ear and a keen awareness of what Beowulf is: a story passed down orally. Nearly twenty years after Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf — and fifty years after the translation that continues to torment high-school students around the world — there is a radical new verse translation of the epic poem by Maria Dahvana Headley, which brin Named a Book of the Year by The New Statesman. Far superior to Heaney's. --Ruth Franklin, The New Yorker Beowulf Translation by Seamus Heaney So. "The new translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahavana Headley is the best thing I've read all fucking year" -Mike Drucker, TV Writer and Comedian "Enthralling, scalding . The present work is a modest effort to reproduce approximately, in modern measures, the venerable epic, Beowulf. So in her new translation of Beowulf, Headley once again works to bring humanity back to Grendel’s mother. New York Times bestseller “A thrill . Study Help Film Versions of Beowulf. Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf was published in 1999 to a reception that was mostly very enthusiastic indeed. I hope this has helped - best wishes :) In this translation, the mother … All his weapons and armor to a servant, The best he could find; with fourteen others The warrior boarded the boat as captain, A canny pilot along coast and currents. Here is information about some of the best and most noteworthy film adaptations of Beowulf: Beowulf and Grendel. Maria Dahvana Headley is the translator of this stunning new version of Beowulf, and a number one New York Times-bestselling author and editor.Her books include the novels Magonia, Aerie, and Queen of Kings, as well as the memoir, The Year of Yes.With Kat Howard, she is the author of The End of the Sentence, and with Neil Gaiman, she is co-editor of Unnatural … . The Heyne-Socin text and glossary have been closely followed. Thank You! And Beowulf was ready, firm with our Lord’s . I was curious as to some of your opinions as to what the best translation of Beowulf is. Now I have to bring up Grendel, by John Gardner, for any of you already familiar with Beowulf. 670 High favor and his own bold courage and strength. A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of the much-buzzed-about novel The Mere Wife "Brash and belligerent, lunatic and envigorating, with passages of sublime poetry punctuated by obscenities and social-media shorthand." Seamus Heaney does an amazing job with Beowulf. Headley combines newly-wrought ancient kennings with US street slang and lights up the women in the poem with unusual sympathy (including Grendel's mother and the dragon). “Beowulf is not a text about heroic whiteness – it is a text about wealth and privilege and comfort, and the ways in which wealth and privilege and comfort don’t necessarily equate to goodness,” Headley said in an interview with Locus Magazine. . Scyld's heir, in Northern lands. In this translation of the Beowulf, Heyne attempts to popularize what he considers the most beautiful of the Old English poems. A new Beowulf translation has come flowing out of the fiend-infested mist: The author is J.R.R.