A man falls asleep, his bed beneath a hung shield of bright wood.
Who made it for him? Who will remember it after tonight?
He goes to sleep for the last time, brimful from feasting, glad
for his bed, his armor set above him, a scarecrow to the night.
Identical under a blanket to the rest, but not quite the same—he
Squinted
when he laughed, he had a crooked thumb…
…This one would pay dearly for his beauty sleep,
for out in the dark, something of Grendel was waiting.
(Meghan Purvis, “Grendel’s Mother”)
How far can you go in translating a thousand-year-old poem? How do you balance relevance and authenticity? What does it mean to translate Beowulf into other platforms—to screen, graphic novel, performance, fan fiction, musical score, X thread? How do ethical translators reckon with the racist, sexist and imperialist history of Beowulf interpretation? This course on the many lives of Beowulf is also a course in the theory and practice of literary translation. Primary texts include Beowulf translations by Thomas Meyer, Seamus Heaney, and Meghan Purvis; we will also read widely in contemporary theory and criticism.
Previous study of Old English not required.