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Tolkien and the Beowulf Saga

Posted by michael on from the everything-old-is-new-again dept.

jackalski sent in this story about a translation of the Beowulf epic by J.R.R. Tolkien being discovered and which is now set to be published next year. Tolkien found Beowulf inspirational.

5 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. sir gawain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    He also did a translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which (in the copy I have) is bundled with translations of both Perl and Sir Orfeo. IMHO his translation of Sir Gawain is much better than the one we were forced to read in my high school english class. Would have been cool to have had a copy of his Beowulf translation to compare to the one we had.

    I dont know of any online shops that carry the book, but the ISBN number is 0-345-27760-0 if you want to look for it or special order.

  2. This will be a hard read... by pyman · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Even more exciting will be Tolkien's translation of the poem and his line-by-line interpretation of its meaning, which will be published next summer.

    I really like Tolkien, but I had to really push myself to get through the Silmarillion... Somehow a line by line explanation strikes me as being much less than 'exciting'!

    --
    a ^= b; b ^= a; a ^= b;
  3. a word by Triv · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...to those who now want to read Beowulf:

    Don't. Listen to it instead. It was a myth, part of an oral tradition. You really don't get the same thing out of reading it.

    There's a recording available of Seamus Heaney reading his translation of it here.

    Triv

  4. Re:it's still beowulf... by TheOnlyCoolTim · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A translation can make a huge difference. For example, I was reading Aristophanes' "The Clouds", and I was reading a good translation. It was hilarious - like an Ancient Greek episode of the Simpsons (a good episode). My friend, who had a crappy translation, hated it and found it humorless. For example, when the lizard shits in Socrates' face, my book says "a lizard shitted on his face!", which is funny, whereas my friend's book says something like "a lizard befouled upon him.", which isn't.

    Tim

    --
    Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
  5. There are other translations... by bahwi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are other translations, you know, if you're one of those people who reads the book before seeing the movie, maybe read one translation before the other?

    http://www.lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/