Reviews with content warning for War - Beowulf: A New Translation

I read it for university, and it was fine. I did not hate it, but at the same time, it was not for me. It was interesting enough, and I can somewhat see why it's a classic.

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expertfisherfox's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A classic. This particular copy had the translation on one side of the page and the original text on the opposite, which was fascinating to look at and compare.

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godraed's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Heaney's heroic translation
proves the poet
a master of the medium

Heaney's translation does a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the original poem. He created a modern masterpiece from the Old English original.

Adventure, grim oaths, monsters, and a window into the worldview of another time.

Gath a wyrd swa hio scel.

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mjones14's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Read for my dissertation. Interesting translation although I wonder what the value of the text is in the 21st century

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12dejamoo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This translation of Beowulf is really something else. It's so so readable. It reads like a story told in a mead hall, and I think something in the telling really puts the reader into that mental space. I struggled to get through Beowulf last time I read it, but with this translation, it flowed and pulled you along to the next scene. This is the translation to start with and to really get a grasp on the story.

I'll leave this review with these ending lines (3174-3182), so spoiler alert:

They did all this grieving the way men do,
but, bro, no man knows, not me, not you,
how to get to goodbye. His guys tried.
They remembered the right words. Our king!
Lonely ring-wielder! Inheritor of everything!
He was our man, but every man dies.
Here he is now! Here our best boy lies!
He rode hard! He stayed thirsty! He was the man!
He was the man.

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xandra_lyn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Rating for the translation not the story. It was rather clunky, and often confusing. I actually found the author's explanations on the side to be more confusing than just reading the poem. I've read a different translation of beowulf previously, and that one was better.

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jaan's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Beowulf has very quickly become an all-time favourite. The reason I didn't give this audiobook edition 5 stars is because Heaney abridged his own translation, and the verses he dropped are integral to an interpretation I find to be very rich.

I listened to this edition as I read Heaney's 1999 facing-page translation. I LOVED his narration. He was not a very dynamic narrator, but he was slow, steady, deliberate, and he gave the poem a depth I would not have felt if I didn't listen along (Beowulf was always meant to be heard anyway, not read). I cried a little towards the end when Beowulf recalled his service in Hygelac's retinue: "I marched ahead of him, always there / at the front of the line; and I shall fight like that / for as long as I live, as long as this sword / shall last" (2497-2500).

I got 150 lines in before immediately becoming a Grendel apologist, btw.

Beowulf is a poem about many things: grief, predestination, war, self-actualization, etc. It's about the relationship between the Danes, the Geats, and the Swedes, a meditation on what a man's descendants owe to him, to what extent goodwill endures between generations, the punishment a man inflicts for his victim's grandparents' actions. It is about the lives women must piece together betwixt the death and loss and tragedy of war, and the agency they might exercise to prevent further violence (these are the verses missing from Heaney's abridged narration, but existing in his facing-page translation).

Give this story a chance. It helped that I read it with my book club, at my own pace (instead of for a class, during which I would have been rushed by deadlines).

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