Customer Reviews

Beowulf (Barnes & Noble Classics)

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Monsters defeated by a valiant man who only seeks the priviledge of fighting the greatest foes of his time. In the end, he gives his life as he defeats his enemy. This is a song of larger than life heros who never surrender, and want nothing more than a good fight despite snivelling, hissing cowards who denigrate the heros' efforts.

Some things never change. Sadly, the values and ethos of Beowolf are shared by too few today.

It's not an easy read, but it is a worthy read, for its own sake and to better understand the body of work that continues along the path it laid down.

E.M. Van Court

[note: this is a review of the poem generally, not this particular translation]

Beowulf is one of those Medieval works of literature that many have heard about but few have read. However, it's worth reading, if only to experience a story so different from modern sensibilities. The poem extols Beowulf's physical courage and bravery against monsters and dragons. It's an odd mix of early Christian and warrior ethos. Beowulf is not a modern hero. There's not much to recommend him to modern readers - he's boastful, relies on brawn not brains, and his search for glory ends up putting his kingdom at risk. Still, it's fascinating to read this type of story and realize how far away it is from our own times.

Because this is a translation of an Anglo-Saxon poem, it's worth saying a word about the text itself. It's readable, but isn't smooth reading for the uninitiated. I'd say this - if you don't like reading English-language poetry, you probably won't enjoy reading this poem. If you do make the effort, I'd recommend really making the effort. Go slow and make sure you understand the story. Don't skip over a few lines thinking they're not as relevant.

The Barnes & Noble Classics line offers a lot of classic (or at least old) works at very reasonable prices. They manage to do this by using, by and large, editions that are out of copyright. By reducing the production costs of the books, they can reduce the price for the customers.

This approach is excellent for works that were originally written in English. B&N gets a modern scholar to pen an introduction, and maybe some notes. These are attached to the freely-available text and sold at a low price. You could download a copy for free and read it (and this would probably be the preferred method if you have an ereader device), but for those who still read paper books, you pay a small price ($5-$10) and get someone to typeset and bind it for you.

Translations of non-English works are another matter. By using an out-of-copyright translation, you miss out on modern scholarship, and you get a translation that might sound archaic (although some readers probably prefer this). I figured this would be the case with Beowulf, so I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that B&N had commissioned a modern translation.

John McNamara has produced a translation that is really quite good. It is very faithful to the original text, but is not literal to the point that it becomes hard to read. On the contrary, it reads very well. No attempt is made to mimic the meter of the Old English, although McNamara does make fairly frequent use of alliteration. To round it out, there is a good, brief introduction and a set of end-notes that help to clarify tricky bits of the poem, or to give some context.

In all, this is a highly recommended translation. If you're looking to read Beowulf for the first time, I would have no hesitation in recommending this version, especially (but not only) at this price. The serious Beowulf student will need extra materials, but then that's true of most Beowulf translations.

Beowulf is a classic epic mythical poem. Written between the 8th and 11th centuries in England, it tells the story of Beowulf, a Scandinavian warrior who comes to the aid of a neighboring Danish king in his troubles with the demon Grendel. The poem covers the battles of Beowulf with Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon.
It's not a rhyming poem, really, but it does have a meter and flow of words, and would be fascinating to hear read aloud. There are a few moments of extreme violence (mostly the injuries inflicted by Grendel on the Danes), but these moments are brief. If you prefer very descriptive writing, you will find a lot to like here.
This is a well-translated edition, with many notes and a lot of background information. It also includes a section on other authors' writings on Beowulf for further reading. If you have seen the most recent (Robert Zemeckis, 2007) film adaptation, you will find a few very major plot differences.