Customer Reviews

Beowulf (Broadview Literary Texts) (Broadview Literary Texts Series)

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RM Liuzza's long-awaited translation of the Old English epic is a wonderful way for people who do not read Old English to get to know this poem. Liuzza preserves much of the feel of Beowulf, from the rhythm to the alliteration. Students of Old English will also find the book a useful tool for checking their own understanding of the poem. The appendices in the back are very useful, and it's a beautiful book besides. I can't reccomend it enough, heck, buy it in hardcover.

I didn't expect to enjoy Beowulf. It is very old and very repetitive. However, the very interesting introduction and appendices make Beowulf interesting and relevant to modern readers, as well as easy to understand. There is a lot of supplementary material in this edition that gives Beowulf a context to help make it meaningful. The footnotes were very helpful as well. Overall, I liked it and recomend it to students studying Beowulf.

I'm really pleased with my purchase of this Beowulf translation. Its flowing language makes it a pleasure to read, while also providing an accurate and academic translation. It makes translating from the original a much easier process.

[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.

When I began to write A Companion to Beowulf, I surveyed many translations and considered closely about half a dozen. I was going to need to draw on just one translation in quoting lines, and I wanted it to be a clear, poetic, accurate translation. After considering ones that were older, more classroom-standard, or more famous, I finally chose Roy Liuzza's.

Translating Beowulf is difficult. The language uses many words that are directly related to modern English; words like "winter" and "gold" appear in the poem. Some words seem utterly foreign to modern English, while a great intermediate range of words developed into modern English forms, but had different meanings in Anglo-Saxon. Word order in Anglo-Saxon could be quite different, and then in poetry, the word order became more complicated as part of the artistry. Colorful phrases known as kennings often stood in for plain words. The music of the lines lay not in rhyme but in patterns of word stress and repeated alliteration. All of these elements make translation word choices very difficult. Every translation must sacrifice something. Either it must use words that are more distant from the original choices, or it may sound too primitive and stiff. Either it must lose the poetic rhythms to greater accuracy, or it must preserve the poetry by using awkward or inaccurately substituted images.

A good translation is one that makes the fewest sacrifices. The translator has shown a knack for thinking of a modern word or phrase that copies the ancient rhythm or sound, or he has found a way to make the antique artificiality of expression unbend and seem to come to life again. Roy Liuzza's translation is one of the best in this sense. It is accurate, readable, and distinctly alive.

Check out my student guide, which coordinates with and uses Liuzza's translation: [...]

This is a fluent and interesting translation in its own right, and a very useful companion for those attempting to read Beowulf in Old English--Liuzza follows the original rather closely, and has made sense of the often tangled syntax. His language is clear and straightforward--Seamus Heany's version is perhaps more beautiful, but much further from the OE text.