Not the 'Beowulf' You Think You Know

082349872349872 wrote: post #4

saagarjha wrote: post #2

I'm not sure I can understand the strange juxtaposition of "modern" language with thousand-year-old meter.

Might it help if someone put a beat under the flow?

Maybe?

Re: Not the 'Beowulf' You Think You Know

#6

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 5:42 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Not the 'Beowulf' You Think You Know

#7

Post by peterwwillis » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 5:48 AM UTC

Yeah, starting every line with "Bro" was such a masterful move. Because bros are totally going to buy and read this thing. Because it says "Bro" a lot.

Why does literary fawning always come off as desperation? Like an english major that knows they wasted time and money and in spite of it want you to care really deeply about an Oxford comma?

Re: Not the 'Beowulf' You Think You Know

#8

Post by numlocked » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 5:59 AM UTC

I’m no scholar, but have a distinct memory of reading the Heaney translation of Beowulf perhaps 20 years ago (it was new at the time). I don’t recall any of the language per se, but have the distinct memory of thinking “this is extremely badass”. It seems completely reasonable that a more vernacular translation would be in some meaningful way more accurate (if not precise). This article brought back some of the adrenaline, and I expect that when I read this version, it will be exactly as I remember it.

Re: Not the 'Beowulf' You Think You Know

#9

Post by morelisp » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 5:59 AM UTC

082349872349872 wrote: post #3

Shots from the updated trailer for the Iliad : Paris - fanning golden apple slices off his palm Bitch is mine, yo! Achilles - Hos before bros. Patroclus hypes Athena - Not much slumming with the mortals where r u :eyes::owl: Hector - slomo in drifting chariot Odysseus - Same thing we do every night, Ajax. Try to sack Troy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqMs9WsJg2k

Emily Wilson's translation of the Odyssey is similar in goal (flowing English, modern imagery, "scrap[ing] away all the centuries of verbal and ideological buildup") though not quite the same tone - Greek theater isn't the Saxon tavern, after all.

https://www.emilyrcwilson.com/the-odyssey

Re: Not the 'Beowulf' You Think You Know

#10

Post by morelisp » Fri, Aug 28, 2020, 6:02 AM UTC

peterwwillis wrote: post #7

Yeah, starting every line with "Bro" was such a masterful move. Because bros are totally going to buy and read this thing. Because it says "Bro" a lot. Why does literary fawning always come off as desperation? Like an english major that knows they wasted time and money and in spite of it want you to care really deeply about an Oxford comma?

So how would you translate "hwæt"?