Beowulf: An Illustrated Edition [Paperback]

Seamus Heaney (Translator), John D. Niles (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 2007

More than one hundred glorious images, many of objects dating from the time of the story, enhance Seamus Heaney's masterful best-selling translation.

Composed toward the end of the first millennium, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. Drawn to its immense emotional credibility, Seamus Heaney gives the great epic convincing reality for the reader.

But how to visualize the poet's story has always been a challenge for modern-day readers. In Beowulf: An Illustrated Edition, John D. Niles, a scholar of old English, brings Heaney's remarkable, best-selling translation to life. More than one hundred full-page illustrations—Viking warships, chain mail, lyres, spearheads, even a reconstruction of the Great Hall—make visible Beowulf's world and the elemental themes of his story: death, divine power, horror, heroism, disgrace, devotion, and fame. Now this mysterious world is transformed into one that only becomes more amazing after viewing its elegant goblets, dragon images, finely crafted gold jewelry, and the Danish landscape of its origins. 80 color and 41 black-and-white illustrations

Editorial Reviews

Review

This illustrated edition is possibly the finest version of Heaney's translation yet. -- Neil Gaiman, author of Stardust and co-writer of the movie screenplay

About the Author

Seamus Heaney received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995; he teaches regularly at Harvard University and lives in Dublin.

John D. Niles is the Nancy C. Hoefs Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (November 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393330109
• ISBN-13: 978-0393330106
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beowulf on steroids!, November 22, 2007

By 

Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beowulf: An Illustrated Edition (Paperback)

I have previously commented favorably on the excellence of Seamus Heaney's translation of this classic Old English poem as originally published in a bilingual edition (presenting Heaney's translation on pages alternating with the Anglo-Saxon original).

Remarkably, the present edition is an improvement on the original. The Old English text has been replaced with a vast number of superb illustrations, mostly photographs of artifacts representing life in world of Beowulf and photographs of reconstructed Iron Age boats and buildings. These illustrations superbly illuminate Heaney's words, making the tale even more vivid and comprehensible. They are beautiful in their own right, and wonderfully complement Heaney's words. The volume also contains several chapters of excellent commentary upon these illustrations.

I have never seen a version of "Beowulf" better suited for the intelligent general reader. If you don't already own the original bilingual edition, this new version belongs on your bookshelf. In fact, it deserves a place even if you own the earlier edition.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beowulf, with Pictures, November 18, 2007

By 

Outside Food (Lafayette Hill, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beowulf: An Illustrated Edition (Paperback)

Seamus Heaney's modern English translation of Beowulf won the UK's Whitbread Book Award (now called the Costa Book Award) for Book of the Year in 1999, and came out in paperback in the US a couple of years later. Now it comes with illustrations on the even-numbered pages instead of the original Old English text. John D. Niles has selected over 100 photos of archeological finds and landscapes appropriate to the text. Some helmets, rings, swords, etc., from the first millenium have survived in burial mounds in Sweden and Denmark, and are shown. The pictures help illuminate the poem, making it easier to imagine what the characters were wearing and where they were going. I read this book for pleasure, never having been exposed to it in school; I wish the classics had been presented to me in as interesting a fashion as this. Highly recommended for those who have not purchased the earlier, non-illustrated version.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even for those who have the Heaney translation already, November 29, 2007

By 

Damon D. Hickey "COWLIB" (Wooster, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beowulf: An Illustrated Edition (Paperback)

There are at least four editions of Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf, and they're all worth owning. The audio version is read beautifully and dramatically by the author himself (although, unfortunately, it's abridged). The original published version has both the translation and the Old English text. The Norton Critical Edition includes a wealth of essays, critical literature, and background information. And the new Norton Illustrated Edition brings the poem to fuller life through a wonderful selection of images of artifacts, reconstructions, and landscapes related to the text on the facing pages. For those who would like to know what the world of Beowulf and the world of the Beowulf poet really looked like, this is the place to go.