A GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR, AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of the acclaimed novel The Mere Wife.
Nearly twenty years after Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf - and fifty years after the translation that continues to torment students around the world - there is a radical new verse interpretation 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 towards 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.
| ISBN: | 9781911617822 |
| Publication date: | 8th March 2021 |
| Author: | Maria Dahvana Headley |
| Publisher: | Scribe UK an imprint of Scribe Publications Pty Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 176 pages |
| Genres: |
Classic and pre-20th century poetry Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval Fiction in translation Poetry Sagas |