The Book Depository Beowulf by Burton Raffel
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Price: £5.30
Brand: The Book Depository
Description: Beowulf : Paperback : Penguin Putnam Inc : 9780451530967 : 0451530969 : 04 Feb 2016 : Kept alive for more than 13 centuries, Beowulf is the earliest extant poem in a modern European language, reflecting a feudal, newly Christian world of heroes and monsters, blood and victory, life and death. This edition of Raffel's acclaimed translation features a new Afterword. Revised reissue. The Book Depository Beowulf by Burton Raffel - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9780451530967
MPN: 0451530969
GTIN: 9780451530967
Author: M. Dowden
Rating: 5
Review: It is probable that the original manuscript of this was first written by at the latest the early 11th Century, but of course the story is older than that and there were probably slight variations with different story tellers of the period. Of course the written version would have been created in a monastery, and we can see that here as there is mention of God, the original of course would have been told amongst pagans before they had been converted. An inspiration still, the likes of Tolkein and many others have always come to this for help in developing their own tales, and thus not only is this an important text in English literature, but also for writers of fantasy. One thing I should clear up is that some people seem to have the mistaken idea that this story takes place in this country. Let us be clear on this point, the story as we have it written down was produced in this country, the actual poem though takes place in Scandinavia. It is easy reading this to imagine you are transported back to a hall, with the fire blazing, quaffing and eating whilst this is being told in its original Old English ‘H?æt! ?? G?r-Dena in ?e?r-dagum, …’. Thankfully this is a Modern English translation, so don’t worry. And so Beowulf, a Geat who were based in modern day Sweden is called upon by the King of the Danes to assist in the destruction of a monster. Thus we follow what happens as preparations are made to take on Grendel, but this is not the end of the saga, because as we all know Grendel’s mother comes on the scene looking for vengeance. We then follow Beowulf some years later, when he has to battle another creature. Exciting and full of action this is still something that is well worth reading, and I must admit that over the years it has become something of a favourite of mine, what with its mix of fiction and fact.
Author: Electric Writer
Rating: 2
Review: There are plenty of reviews of Michael Alexander's 1973 translation of Beowolf, so I will limit this to my usual rantings about sloppy Kindle formatting. Again, we have a terribly formatted Kindle book from Penguin - a mainstream publisher - who, quite frankly, should know better. I now have a number of Penguin books on my Kindle; very very few of them have satisfactory formatting that replicates the print edition, which makes the issues even more infuriating. When you take their excellent editions of theThe Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights: Volume 1 (Penguin Classics) , it makes you wonder why the same level of care and attention hasn't been paid to all books published by Penguin. I shall be keeping this book because this is the translation I want. But I've decided to write a direct email to Penguin about their formatting issues as the methods of providing feedback via Amazon seem to be futile; nothing has ever come of a feedback submission or live chat. If you want to see how this epic poem should be formatted, check the "Look Inside" on the paperback version. Unfortunately, you can't get as far as the actual text of the poem on the Kindle sample.
