TY - BOOK ID - 135550230 TI - Beowulf PY - 2017 SN - 0300231393 9780300231397 0300228880 9780300228885 PB - New Haven DB - UniCat KW - Heroes KW - Dragons KW - Epic poetry, English (Old) KW - Grendel KW - Beowulf, KW - Beowulf. KW - Scandinavia UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:135550230 AB - A widely celebrated translator's vivid, accessible, and elegantly concise rendering of an ancient English masterpieceBeowulf tells the story of a Scandinavian hero who defeats three evil creatures-a huge, cannibalistic ogre named Grendel, Grendel's monstrous mother, and a dragon-and then dies, mortally wounded during his last encounter. If the definition of a superhero is "someone who uses his special powers to fight evil," then Beowulf is our first English superhero story, and arguably our best. It is also a deeply pious poem, so bold in its reverence for a virtuous pagan past that it teeters on the edge of heresy. From beginning to end, we feel we are in the hands of a master storyteller. Stephen Mitchell's marvelously clear and vivid rendering re-creates the robust masculine music of the original. It both hews closely to the meaning of 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. ER -