A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of The Mere Wife. Nearly twenty years after Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf ― and fifty years after the translation that continues to torment high-school students around the world ― there is a radical new verse translation of the epic poem by Maria Dahvana Headley, which brings to light elements never before translated into English. A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. These familiar components of the epic poem are seen with a novelist’s eye toward gender, genre, and history. Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment ― of powerful men seeking to become more powerful and one woman seeking justice for her child ― but this version brings new context to an old story. While crafting her contemporary adaptation, Headley unearthed significant shifts lost over centuries of translation; her Beowulf is one for the twenty-first century.
ISBN: | 9781911617822 |
Publisher: | Scribe |
Imprint: | Scribe UK |
Published date: | 08 Mar 2021 |
DEWEY: | 829.3 |
DEWEY edition: | 23 |
Language: | English |
Number of pages: | 176 |
Weight: | 230g |
Height: | 130mm |
Width: | 196mm |
Spine width: | 15mm |