A review by cryo_guy
The Green Knight (Movie Tie-In) by Anonymous

4.0

I read this because some friends invited me to watch the new movie. I also happened to come across a bbc podcast from In Our Time about the poem which I listened to all in preparation for the movie. I had a real fun time with all of it and the movie was pretty decent. To be honest, I think I had built it up a bit too much in my head and while it was stunning visually, it lacked a certain narrative integrity. That isn't to say it didn't make sense, it just preferred to tell the story differently. It embraced a sort of vagueness, which one might argue is in the spirit of the original poem. Nevertheless, I feel like some of the themes I explored in my reading of the poem weren't utilized as much as they could have been for the movie (plus Morgan le Fay is Gawain's mom? Really throws a wrench in things. Or a holly branch at the very least). I can't stress enough though that the movie is very beautiful and visually dynamic.

At any rate, let's get to this book! So I thought O'Donoghue did a pretty decent job although he's left me wondering what Tolkien's is like. I think his translation is imminently accessible, but in parts lacks a certain lyrical verve. Other times, it does really well with what I understand is the general formula-rhyming, meter, alliteration, etc.-for this poem and its genre. All in all, a worthy translation. The poem itself was fun for me to finally read for the first time and really doesnt suffer from being boring because its so short. Good stuff.