Customer Reviews

The Further Adventures of Beowulf: Champion of Middle Earth

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This book is quite a hodge-podge. First, about one third is given over to a Victorian era prose translation of the original "Beowulf". It is rather stilted, and if this is your first introduction to Beowulf, you'd probably be happier with another -- e.g., the recent one by Seamus Heaney is recommended for its elegance and readability, if not scholarly accuracy.

There is also a brief but useful introduction covering the poem, its history, the pre-Tolkienian origins of the idea of Middle Earth, Tolkien, etc, and an annotated bibliography of Beowulf and his more modern spawn (e.g. a Xena episode). The editor semingly avers that world of Beowulf is sort of the same as Tolkien's Middle Earth.

The centerpiece, the reason for purchasing this book, is a series of four longish tales by modern fantasy authors, written specifically for the book. These stories are stitched together by annoyingly coy interludes, seemingly with the conceit that they are being offered to Prof. Tolkien in the 1930's as genuine translations.

The stories are:

"Beowulf and the City of the Dark Elves" by Jeff Grubb

"Beowulf and the Titan" by Lynn Abbey

"Beowulf and the Attack of the Trolls" by Wolfgang Baur

"Beowulf and the Wraith" by Ed Greenwood

Tolkien, of course, was the author of a famous 1936 lecture on the poem, "Beowulf: the monster and the critics", which had lasting influence on scholarship and the understanding of "Beowulf". Much of "The Lord of the Rings" was inspired by Tolkien's "day job" studies of Beowulf and other old English and Germanic literature, a fact which probably explains the particular completeness and consistency, the almost Jungian connection with the European subconscious, that LOTR has and which few if any of its imitators even approaches.

Yet in spite of the Tolkien connection, none of the four stories has much resonance with LOTR or Tolkien's Middle Earth -- the elves in Grubb's tale are nothing like JRR's Elves, even if they had fallen into evil ways. Baur's trolls bear little resemblance to those tricked into turning to stone in "The Hobbit" (there is even an aside referring to this supposed effect as a myth). Wraiths do appear in Tolkien as the Ring-wraiths and perhaps one or two other remanants of the dead (though not all such); but again, the wraith of Greenwood's tale doesn't seem to have much to do with Tolkien's wraiths. Nor can I recall any of these creatures in Beowulf. Titans do not appear in Beowulf, LOTR or The Hobbit even in name, and would seem to have little to do with Middle Earth of either sort.

But more important than the specific elements or adversaries, none of these tales have the "look and feel" of Tolkienian Middle Earth, inasmuch as that is the connection the editor is promoting. And though several of the stories do try to evoke either the world of the poem or that of 6th century Scandinavia (though considered an early English epic, "Beowulf" takes place in Denmark and Sweden), the fantastic elements seem to have little to do with what I know of their mythology (Titans are ancient *Greek* gods, eh?).

So, although the intro is a little gem, and the stories are all good enough (though not outstanding) considered on their own, if you're expecting either a bunch of stories set in Beowulf's world and mythos, or Tolkien's Middle Earth, that bear any resemblance to the original settings, you'll be disappointed. I'd really rate this somewhat under 4*, but round up to 4* because my expectations may not be typical. If you really dig historical or mythological based fantasy, you will probably enjoy the tales well enough, if not the editorial matter.

simply a scripted set of fantasy stories....simplistic and unimaginative....but for the afficionado of pulp fantasy, more of the same.