Beowulf
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Mitchell
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By:
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Stephen Mitchell
About this listen
Stephen Mitchell's marvelously clear and vivid rendering recreates the robust masculine music of the original. It both hews closely to the Old English and captures its wild energy and vitality, not just as a deep "work of literature" but also as a rousing entertainment that can still stir our feelings and rivet our attention today, after more than a thousand years. This new translation - spare, sinuous, vigorous in its narration, and translucent in its poetry - makes a masterpiece accessible to everyone.
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One Advantage of Not Knowing Classical Greek
- By John on 12-09-21
By: Homer, and others
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The Canterbury Tales [Blackstone]
- By: Geoffrey Chaucer
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis, Jay Carnes, Ray Porter, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In this edition, we hear, translated into modern English, 20-some tales, told in the voices of knight and merchant, wife and miller, squire and nun, and many more. Some are bawdy, some spiritual, some romantic, some mysterious, some chivalrous. Between the stories, the travelers converse, joke, and argue, revealing much about their individual outlooks upon life as well as what life was like in late 14th-century England.
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A helpful index
- By Ruth Green on 03-06-09
By: Geoffrey Chaucer
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Beowulf the Warrior
- Living History Library
- By: Ian Serrailier
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 1 hr
- Unabridged
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Beowulf the Warrior is an outstanding modern version of the oldest epic in the English language. Ian Serraillier has retold in verse the story of the hero Beowulf and his three memorable exploits - first, his rescuing of Hrothgar the Dane from the ravages of monstrous Grendel; next, his victory over Grendel's strange and horrible mother; and finally, in Beowulf's old age, his saving of his own people, the Geats, from the horrors of a dragon at the cost of his life. Beowulf's heroism and noble heart communicate to any modern listener.
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Great read
- By Bridget O'Hare on 05-13-20
By: Ian Serrailier
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The Book of Job
- By: Stephen Mitchell - translator
- Narrated by: Peter Coyote
- Length: 1 hr and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Perhaps no other Biblical tale penetrates so deeply into the everyday travails of the common person as The Book of Job. It tells the story of a righteous man beset by torment and misfortune through no fault of his own. This parable of bad things happening to a good person addresses the eternal question of why we are here, and why we suffer. This translation is by Stephen Mitchell.
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Phenominal !!!
- By Kirill on 08-10-04
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The Second Book of the Tao
- By: Stephen Mitchell
- Narrated by: Stephen Mitchell
- Length: 2 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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The Second Book of the Tao is a gift to contemporary readers, granting us access to our own fundamental wisdom. Mitchell's meditations and risky reimagining of the original texts are brilliant and liberating, not least because they keep catching us off-guard, opening up the heavens where before we saw a roof. He makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless.
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it will take you there
- By Emily J Blair on 02-27-09
By: Stephen Mitchell
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The Aeneid
- By: Virgil, Robert Fitzgerald - translator
- Narrated by: Christopher Ravenscroft
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Abridged
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Profoundly poetic yet gloriously accessible, this is the best way to experience a work that has remained a centerpiece of Western civilization for 2,000 years. Fitzgerald's rendering speaks directly to the modern listener, inviting us to share the excitement, adventure, and human tears as Aeneas, the warrior hero, escapes from the burning city of Troy, embarks on a long and perilous journey, and eventually, triumphantly establishes a new nation: Rome.
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Not complete
- By Martin E Sargent on 04-16-16
By: Virgil, and others
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The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling
- By: Peter Ackroyd
- Narrated by: Keith Moore, Toby Leonard Moore, Colin McPhillamy, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Peter Ackroyd has won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, and the Guardian Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s immortal work, this retelling of The Canterbury Tales follows a party of travelers as they tell stories amongst themselves about love and chivalry, saints and legends, travel and adventure. Through allegory, satire, and humor, the tales help pass the time during their journey.
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WOW
- By Mitchell Drimmer on 02-25-15
By: Peter Ackroyd
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The Epic of Gilgamesh
- By: Stephen Langdon
- Narrated by: Victor Craig
- Length: 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest surviving literary work in the world. The epic poetry describes the ancient King Gilgamesh and his journey to discover the secret to eternal life.
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Not even if it's free
- By kyle whitt on 02-24-23
By: Stephen Langdon
What listeners say about Beowulf
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Traut
- 09-21-23
Poor Performance
The reading could not keep my interest; the monotone was weak and difficult to continue listening to. I kept rewinding but found myself far ahead without having captured what had happened before. I will just read a hard copy.
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- Anonymous User
- 02-14-24
Well written
For some reason the audio is very quiet and it makes it hard to hear
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- Debbie Tudor
- 10-28-24
Delightful and insightful
Though narration a bit too quiet and dry for my liking, it was clear and well-paced for the story. No awkward bad acting, which is good. The story is one I’d studied in college and actually listened to by another narrator in 2020. I was once again astonished at the compelling nature of the story and how detailed the sheer sensitivity that the inner thoughts of various characters brought to bear on the humanity of this historically significant piece of poetic literature. Very glad for the experience!
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- Shirah
- 03-14-24
The reader is a scholar, not a performer.
The reader, who I understand to also be the translator, did an excellent job in portraying the story but his affect was very flat.
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-10-23
A classic well done.
The story is timeless and sad in what it says about our love of war. I disagreed with the criticism of the narrator. It was presented as a very old text, not a dramatic, enactment, and I think Mitchell did extremely well in both the translation and the narration. I listen to the sample to make sure you agree.
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-20-24
Classic
The foreword had me hooked! The style and storytelling is historic and expands the taste pallet for a well rounded reader
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- front of the man 123
- 05-04-23
Not a great reading.
Another example of an author (or translator, in this case) who should not be reading his own work.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Marduk
- 05-13-24
Weak narration.
The reading feels weak, slow, almost fragile. Like read by someone scared and tired, without any resemblance to any kind of will. Im pretty sure i´ve heard him to sigh at some point. It sounds sad and yeah, its not a good choice for a story about power, manhood, heroism, and pure action.
So, it was ok, but damn...
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- Tad Davis
- 10-24-17
Great translation, weak reading
I’ve been looking forward to Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Beowulf ever since I heard it was coming. I’ve enjoyed several of his other works, and this tale seemed like it was right up his alley. His version is a model of clarity and narrative drive, and he retains enough of the technical features of the original to give a sense of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Most of all he manages to convey the sadness that seems to cling to every line of the poem: a world-weariness that pervades the most exciting battle scenes.
As an audiobook, it suffers from Mitchell’s narration. In his attempt to be clear and understated, he’s managed to compress everything into the same matter-of-fact tone. Beowulf the poem includes single combat, battle sequences, meadhall celebrations, bardic songs, betrayal and grief. Mitchell’s text captures all of this beautifully. But Mitchell’s voice stays on the same (un)emotional level throughout.
I plan to listen to it again, and to evaluate the translation in print. It’s a worthwhile outing, but I wish it was a more dramatic audio experience.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Heather
- 10-26-23
Great story, Should’ve been read by Someone Else
The translator begins this rendition with a brief history of the original manuscript. It’s fascinating! Written in England, it takes place in Scandinavia referring often to the Danes and the Swedes. It is miraculous that we still have the text. There was a time when only one copy was known to be in existence. When a fire broke out at the library where it was held, the copy was saved by being thrown out a window. Then monks decided to copy it down from that solitary one, it was said that the brittle, burnt pages were crumbling away even as they copied.
Until J.R.R. Tolkien’s translation and commentary of Beowulf, it was virtually unknown and unappreciated. Mitchell spends a good portion of the introduction discussing the unknown author’s Christianity which is debated among scholars today. Christianity came to England at about the 4th century, and Beowulf is believed to have been written in about the 6th century; but this translator, who seems Biblically literate himself, clarifies that the author’s Christianity seems like a strange one. Only Genesis is quoted throughout, opportunities for the hero to praise Jesus are absent, and instead, pagan rituals and values seem to reign. It seems more like Christi-pagan synchronism. I felt like he belabored the point, but while reading it, the religion really doesn’t have the same feel as the Norse or Greek mythos of the “Poetic Edda” or “The Iliad”. Tolkien believed that it was a Christian author writing about his pagan past.
A quick read, Beowulf journeys to a nearby kingdom to defeat the demonic giant Grendel who snatches and eats people in their sleep. After defeating Grendel, his mother rises up to take revenge on her dead son. She is described as a hunched over, as demonic as her son. No wonder the translator openly scoffs at the casting of Angelina Jolie in the 2007 film adaptation! After he defeats Grendel’s mother, Beowulf goes on to be a kind, generous king. His kingdom later becomes haunted by a beastly dragon which he goes out to defeat. This adventure correlates most easily with Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”. His love of Beowulf rings loud and clear. This will make it an entertaining read for Tolkien fans.
The translator is the narrator… which is unfortunate. He was so bland and monotonous. Other Audible reviewers agreed. It was a real let-down.
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