Fiction_L Archives Readable prose Beowulf Dates: 2/20/04,4:26 PM  through  2/23/04,11:17 AM  (10 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to February 2004 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: Carolyn Scheer <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
REC'D: 2/20/04, 4:26 PM

Hi folks-- I need a fast answer to an easy question. Patron is looking for
a readable, adult-level, prose translation of "Beowulf." All I can find in
our collection are juvenile retellings, poetry which is translated line by
line, or excerpts. Any recommendations? And wasn't there a novel a few
years back ...? "Grindel" comes to mind, but it's not in our catalog
either. Thanks a lot.

Carolyn Scheer
Reference Librarian
Scenic Regional Library
308 Hawthorne Drive
Union, MO 63084

FROM: Molly Williams <[removed]@waterborolibrary.org>
REC'D: 2/20/04, 4:32 PM

I gave this version to older teens who read at an adult level, with success:
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Beowulf.html

Not quite prose but: "Perhaps the most notable aspect of Heaney's
Beowulf is that it can be read almost as if it were prose -- and then
mined more deeply for the poetry."

That fast enough for you? :-)

And the Grendel you are looking for is by John Gardner:
http://www.grendel.org/grendel/gardner.html

~ Molly Wms.

--
Molly Williams, Volunteer Web-Tender,
Waterboro Public Library (Maine): http://www.waterborolibrary.org/
... WPL Weblog: http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm

Carolyn Scheer wrote:

>Hi folks-- I need a fast answer to an easy question. Patron is looking for
>a readable, adult-level, prose translation of "Beowulf." All I can find in
>our collection are juvenile retellings, poetry which is translated line by
>line, or excerpts. Any recommendations? And wasn't there a novel a few
>years back ...? "Grindel" comes to mind, but it's not in our catalog
>either. Thanks a lot.
>
>Carolyn Scheer
>Reference Librarian
>Scenic Regional Library
>308 Hawthorne Drive
>Union, MO 63084
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>
>
>
>
>

FROM: "Karen Traynor, Chittenango" <[removed]@midyork.org>
REC'D: 2/20/04, 4:37 PM

Grendel by John Gardner is the novel that is a re-telling of Beowulf, but is not the same as the original story. The Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf (2001) is a great translation of the original, very accessible to the average reader. My classics group read it two years ago and everyone enjoyed it.

Karen Traynor
Sullivan Free Library
519 McDonnell Street
Chittenango, NY 13037

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Carolyn Scheer <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
Reply-To: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 16:39:20 -0600

>Hi folks-- I need a fast answer to an easy question. Patron is looking for
>a readable, adult-level, prose translation of "Beowulf." All I can find in
>our collection are juvenile retellings, poetry which is translated line by
>line, or excerpts. Any recommendations? And wasn't there a novel a few
>years back ...? "Grindel" comes to mind, but it's not in our catalog
>either. Thanks a lot.
>
>Carolyn Scheer
>Reference Librarian
>Scenic Regional Library
>308 Hawthorne Drive
>Union, MO 63084
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>

FROM: David Wright <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 2/20/04, 7:02 PM

Another possibility, as kind of a fun Beowulf
departure, is Michael Crichton's "Eaters of the
Dead," but it is by no means a mirror, and not
such great prose.

But, I gotta say, as a big Beowulf fan from way
back, trust me, guy - ya just don't wanna read it
in PROSE, man! That ruins the whole thing. The
whole point is that great grinding language, that
whomping rhythm - why the hell bother with a
prose version - it kills it.

I myself and partial to Frederick Rebsamen's
excellent verse translation - very contemporary
and straightforward, without archaisms or
preciousness - a ripping yarn. But if they are
just terrified of it, they might LISTEN to the
(rather dated) translation wonderfully recited by
George Guidall for Recorded Books - he totally
nails the dark ironic laconic tone. And, after
all, the intended audience for this story is the
listener, not the reader, so there's nothing
second-hand about it.

David Wright
--- Carolyn Scheer <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
wrote:
> Hi folks-- I need a fast answer to an easy
> question. Patron is looking for
> a readable, adult-level, prose translation of
> "Beowulf." All I can find in
> our collection are juvenile retellings, poetry
> which is translated line by
> line, or excerpts. Any recommendations? And
> wasn't there a novel a few
> years back ...? "Grindel" comes to mind, but
> it's not in our catalog
> either. Thanks a lot.
>
> Carolyn Scheer
> Reference Librarian
> Scenic Regional Library
> 308 Hawthorne Drive
> Union, MO 63084
>
>
>
......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the
> archives?
> Everything Fiction_L:
http://fictionl.webrary.org

=====
David Wright - Seattle Public Library Fiction Dept.

"Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity."
-G.K. Chesterton

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard - Read only the mail you want.
http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools

FROM: Marguerite Ashford <[removed]@punahou.edu>
REC'D: 2/20/04, 7:23 PM

I have to second Karen's mention of the Seamus Heaney translation. It is
lyrical, and quite accessible. It's required reading in our 9th grade
English classes, and has been for several years....and sophomore year they
read Gardner's Grendel for a different take on the same story.

Marguerite Ashford
Punahou School
Honolulu, Hawaii

At 04:39 PM 2/20/2004 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi folks-- I need a fast answer to an easy question. Patron is looking for
>a readable, adult-level, prose translation of "Beowulf." All I can find in
>our collection are juvenile retellings, poetry which is translated line by
>line, or excerpts. Any recommendations? And wasn't there a novel a few
>years back ...? "Grindel" comes to mind, but it's not in our catalog
>either. Thanks a lot.
>
>Carolyn Scheer
>Reference Librarian
>Scenic Regional Library
>308 Hawthorne Drive
>Union, MO 63084
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org

FROM: "christine jeffords" <[removed]@hotmail.com>
REC'D: 2/21/04, 9:07 AM

I don't know how "readable" they are, but J. Duncan Spaeth, C. B. Tinker, C.
G. Child, and someone named Riggs all did prose translations of this epic.

_________________________________________________________________
Watch high-quality video with fast playback at MSN Video. Free!
http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200365ave/direct/01/

FROM: "christine jeffords" <[removed]@hotmail.com>
REC'D: 2/21/04, 9:07 AM

I don't know how "readable" they are, but J. Duncan Spaeth, C. B. Tinker, C.
G. Child, and someone named Riggs all did prose translations of this epic.

_________________________________________________________________
Watch high-quality video with fast playback at MSN Video. Free!
http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200365ave/direct/01/

FROM: Mary Van Dyke <[removed]@CLSN3046.glenview.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 2/21/04, 11:27 AM

Our Monday night book group did Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf
and we all enjoyed it. I bought the tape that has Heaney reading his
work and played parts during the meeting--the tape is wonderful: the
slight Irish accent just moves the action along and makes you believe
that you have traveled back in time.

Mary Van Dyke
Readers Advisory Librarian
Glenview (IL) Public Library
On Fri, 20 Feb 2004, Karen Traynor, Chittenango wrote:

> Grendel by John Gardner is the novel that is a re-telling of Beowulf, but is not the same as the original story. The Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf (2001) is a great translation of the original, very accessible to the average reader. My classics group read it two years ago and everyone enjoyed it.
>
> Karen Traynor
> Sullivan Free Library
> 519 McDonnell Street
> Chittenango, NY 13037
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
> From: Carolyn Scheer <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
> Reply-To: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
> Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 16:39:20 -0600
>
> >Hi folks-- I need a fast answer to an easy question. Patron is looking for
> >a readable, adult-level, prose translation of "Beowulf." All I can find in
> >our collection are juvenile retellings, poetry which is translated line by
> >line, or excerpts. Any recommendations? And wasn't there a novel a few
> >years back ...? "Grindel" comes to mind, but it's not in our catalog
> >either. Thanks a lot.
> >
> >Carolyn Scheer
> >Reference Librarian
> >Scenic Regional Library
> >308 Hawthorne Drive
> >Union, MO 63084
> >
> >
> >......................................................................
> >Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> >Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
> >
>
> ......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>

FROM: "Marsha Valance" <[removed]@mpl.org>
REC'D: 2/23/04, 8:31 AM

Rosemary Sutcliff published a YA retelling of Beowulf, DRAGON SLAYER, in
1961. Beautiful prose.

>>> [removed]@CLSN3046.glenview.lib.il.us 2/21/04 11:28:21 AM >>>
Our Monday night book group did Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf
and we all enjoyed it. I bought the tape that has Heaney reading his
work and played parts during the meeting--the tape is wonderful: the
slight Irish accent just moves the action along and makes you believe
that you have traveled back in time.

Mary Van Dyke
Readers Advisory Librarian
Glenview (IL) Public Library
On Fri, 20 Feb 2004, Karen Traynor, Chittenango wrote:

> Grendel by John Gardner is the novel that is a re-telling of Beowulf,
but is not the same as the original story. The Seamus Heaney
translation of Beowulf (2001) is a great translation of the original,
very accessible to the average reader. My classics group read it two
years ago and everyone enjoyed it.
>
> Karen Traynor
> Sullivan Free Library
> 519 McDonnell Street
> Chittenango, NY 13037
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
> From: Carolyn Scheer <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
> Reply-To: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
> Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 16:39:20 -0600
>
> >Hi folks-- I need a fast answer to an easy question. Patron is
looking for
> >a readable, adult-level, prose translation of "Beowulf." All I can
find in
> >our collection are juvenile retellings, poetry which is translated
line by
> >line, or excerpts. Any recommendations? And wasn't there a novel a
few
> >years back ...? "Grindel" comes to mind, but it's not in our
catalog
> >either. Thanks a lot.
> >
> >Carolyn Scheer
> >Reference Librarian
> >Scenic Regional Library
> >308 Hawthorne Drive
> >Union, MO 63084
> >
> >
>
>......................................................................
> >Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> >Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
> >
>
>
......................................................................
> Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
> Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>

Marsha Valance
Management Librarian
Wisconsin Regional Library f/t Blind & Physically Handicapped
813 West Wells St.
Milwaukee, WI 53233-1436
1.800.242.8822 [in-state]
<[removed]@mpl.org>

FROM: "Diane Brown" <[removed]@scld.org>
REC'D: 2/23/04, 11:17 AM

"Eaters of the Dead" also appears as "The 13th Warrior." Yes, as in the
movie with Antonio Banderas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diane Brown
Collection Services Librarian
Spokane County Library District
[removed]@scld.org

**This is not an official communication. All opinions are my own.**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David Wright wrote:
Another possibility, as kind of a fun Beowulf
departure, is Michael Crichton's "Eaters of the
Dead," but it is by no means a mirror, and not
such great prose.
<snip>

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