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Beowulf
- Narrated by: Stephen Mitchell
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
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Publisher's summary
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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- Unabridged
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The origins, history and authorship of Beowulf are shrouded in uncertainty. This heroic epic probably began, as most do, with a wandering troubadour strumming a stringed instrument, sitting before a hearth-fire, and singing the verses to a spellbound audience arrayed before him. Beowulf is a rousing adventure story, filled with intrepid heroes, monsters and fire-breathing dragons, which can be listened to for the sheer enjoyment of the tale.
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Hard to follow as audio
- By CSterle on 10-14-14
By: Gerald J. Davis
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The Iliad
- By: Homer, Alexander Pope - translator
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 20 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer's Iliad tells the story of the darkest episode in the Trojan War. At its center is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his refusal to fight after being humiliated by his leader, Agamemnon.
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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 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
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- By: Victor Hugo
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Quasimodo was born disfigured, hunchbacked and lame, and years spent ringing the bells of the Cathedral of Notre Dame have left him deaf, but also spared him the taunts of the cruel mobs of Paris. Now Quasimodo has fallen in love with the lovely Gypsy girl Esmeralda, the only person who ever showed pity on him - but she faces a death sentence, and only Quasimodo's pure spirit can save her. Or can he?
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Overwhelmingly sad
- By Tad Davis on 09-02-13
By: Victor Hugo
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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 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 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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Ben-Hur
- A Tale of the Christ
- By: Lew Wallace
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 23 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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A classic of faith, fortitude, and inspiration, this faithful New Testament tale combines the events of the life of Jesus with grand historical spectacle in the exciting story of Judah of the House of Hur, a man who finds extraordinary redemption for himself and his family. Judah Ben-Hur lives as a rich Jewish prince and merchant in Jerusalem at the beginning of the first century. His old friend, Messala, arrives as commanding officer of the Roman legions.
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Not Like the Movie
- By Paul Z. on 01-31-12
By: Lew Wallace
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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