
Beowulf
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Narrated by:
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Seamus Heaney
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By:
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Seamus Heaney
New York Times best seller and Whitebread Book of the Year, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney's new translation of Beowulf comes to life in this gripping audio. Heaney's performance reminds us that Beowulf, written near the turn of another millennium, was intended to be heard not read.
Composed toward the end of the first millennium of our era, Beowulf is the elegiac narrative of the adventures of Beowulf, a Scandinavian hero who saves the Danes from the seemingly invincible monster Grendel and, later, from Grendel's mother. He then returns to his own country and lives to old age before dying in a vivid fight against a dragon.
The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on in the exhausted aftermath. In the contours of this story, at once remote and uncannily familiar at the end of the twentieth century, Seamus Heaney finds a resonance that summons power to the poetry from deep beneath its surface.
©2000 Seamus Heaney (P)2000 Penguin Books Ltd., by arrangement with the BBC. Published by arrangement with W. W. Norton.Listeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"The classic eighth-century English poem is strikingly presented, making accessible the story of a young man's heroic journey to find and slay two monsters." (Publishers Weekly)
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Why, oh, why is it abridged?
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Well Done
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Excellent but abridged, also lacks the introduction
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Anyone who loves a thrilling story should listen to this. It’s not a dry history lesson; it’s an exciting story of kings, monsters, and great battles.
Superb
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Fantastic Translation.
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4 Stars
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A little bit too abridged
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Brilliant on Every Level
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Abridged!
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And in fact, the more accessible translation made me realize just how alien this kind of story is to contemporary readers. If it had been written today, there would have been some kind of betrayal. Maybe Beowulf would have ulterior motives for going to aid Hrothgar. Maybe Hrothgar doesn't like the way his wife eyes the hero. Maybe the king promises a great prize if Beowulf kills Grendel, then reneges, and when Grendel's mother comes for her revenge, Beowulf refuses to protect the king and his people. But there would have been internal conflict, not just the trio of monsters who ravage the lands, but human conflict. Because our stories aren't simple anymore. Nobility seems almost suspect. I confess, I was waiting for Beowulf to kill Hrothgar and claim the throne, even though I knew better. (It was a lot like watching Ladyhawke for the first time and being sure that Navarre would start killing people randomly because I'd never seen Rutger Hauer as a truly good character.)
But as Heaney spins the tale, it's hard not to become carried away by the bravery and nobility of the people, and maybe the foolhardy nature of Beowulf -- he's a hero, of course he's foolhardy -- who not only decides to travel to another kingdom to help them defeat a monster no one else has been able to kill, but because that monster uses no weapons, he swears he will use none. It will be hand-to-hand between them, he says. When Beowulf returns home after his adventures, laden with material proof of Hrothgar's gratitude, he gives much of it to his king. He's not in this for the gold, but rather for the glory and to serve the greater good. And probably in no small part, for the sake of a good, dust-up with a worthy opponent. In spite of the overtly Christian elements of the story, there is more than a little about Beowulf that is godlike.
Though the translation is accessible, it's not dumbed down. Rather it's quite beautiful, rendered with a poet's graceful way with words. Heaney's narration is welcome, with his clear, softly Irish voice. Normally I listen to audiobooks at 1.5x because I'm impatient with most narrations, but for this one I slowed to normal speed in order to savor the sheer beauty of it.
If you've never read Beowulf, or have an wasn't wowed by it, please do try this translation.
Wonderful new translation, perfect narration
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