Beowulf: An Updated Translation Edited by Maria Dahvana Headley

Renee McTavish: I read this with my book club, and it is SO GOOD. It's a wonderful mix of modern and archaic language, excellent story telling (we spent a lot of book club reading it aloud at the table while eating), and overall just had a really good time hearing the story.

I read it in university and don't recall feeling that impressed with it, so reading this copy was a wonderful realization of what a good story it is. So many bros! So many ways fate can screw you over! And that no one once thought that maybe if they'd been less crappy neighbours, maybe Grendel would have left Heorot Hall alone (like, come ON man...just turn down the stereo and stop being idiots!).

Anyway, I highly recommend this telling - it's clever, downright beautiful, and one hell of a fun read.

Canada on Feb 08, 2024

Human Being: I can be a bit of a poetry snob, and would usually bristle at some of the neologisms in here. Yet I've really enjoyed Headley's translation.

I actually read it (aloud) side by side with Heaney's, which really helped to emphasise the delight and LIFE in this one.

It felt like a cross between Patience Agbabi and Carol Ann Duffy. And, presumably, an unnamed poet from over a thousand years ago.

United Kingdom on Oct 04, 2023

Amazon Customer: Maria Dahvana Headley, in her wonderfully fresh Beowulf: A New Translation, notes that both the hero Beowulf and his nemesis Grendel are referred to by the term algaeca,usually translated as “hero” for Beowulf and “monster” when referring to Grendel--or his mother. According to Dahvana Headley, this word is “likelier to mean something akin to ‘formidable’.” Grendel’s mother is referenced in the poem as ides, aglaec-wif, meaning “formidable noblewoman” through this logic.

As Dahvana Headly notes: “Grendel’s mother doesn’t behave like a monster. She behaves like a bereaved mother who happens to have a warrior’s skill.” Grendel’s mother “lives in a hall, uses weapons, is trained in combat, and follows blood-feud rules.”

United States on Sep 09, 2023

Donald L. Ricco Jr.: Beowulf, “A hero’s been sent here by Heaven to defend the Danes from Grendel!”

“Now his mother was here, carried on a wave of wrath, crazed with sorrow, looking for someone to slay, someone to pay in pain for her heart’s loss.”

And then, an angry dragon. And an EPIC battle! A pretty good read, though I was confused a bit at times. Glad to have finally read this, and I'm glad that this was the translation that got me to do it!

“Living has killed us all. We’re dustbinned by destiny.”

United States on Aug 13, 2023

CAN: I'm really enjoying Headley's thoughtful translation of Beowulf. Her introduction clearly lays out her motivation and method, and generally I like what she's doing here. It reads with the energy and movement that this Anglo-Saxon epic deserves; it feels right. Having been a fan of Heaney for years, this is the first translation I've come across that just might turn my head.

I do kind of wish that she'd steered clear of the f-bombs. I'm not linguistically prudish myself, and I in no way suggest that the originators of the epic were either, but I'd love to teach this to high school students (who, yes, are certainly well aware of that word, among myriad others--I'm not naive about this)--and it just puts me in an awkward position in the classroom. So far, however, that's my only complaint, and it's a half-hearted one. Overall, I'm having a blast with this translation.

United States on Jul 19, 2023

Ruchira Mandal: I am not a scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature and the only other translation of Beowulf I have read is Seamus Heaney's back when I was doing my masters, but this was really, really good. I can't wait to get to The Mere Wife.

India on Feb 04, 2022

Joshua Darwin: I'm really enjoying this new translation. Since Beowulf was presumably passed down orally before it was finally written down in the 10th or 11th century, this translator chose words and phrases that reflect the idea of a bunch of rowdy, drunken vikings sitting around their mead hall telling stories about a superhuman hero.

Think of "Chuck Norris Facts," or those old "Bill Brasky" sketches on SNL in the '90s...

"Bill Brasky once punched a hole in a cow just to see who was coming up the road."
"Bill Brasky wears a live rattlesnake as a condom."
"Bill Brasky had a four day heart attack… a day for each chamber."
"I once saw Bill Brasky eat a whole live chicken."
"Bill Brasky once gave me a videotape of him having sex with my wife, and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

I mean... that's basically how they talk about Beowulf in the poem. Headley also uses modern colloquialisms, swear words, and says things like "dude" and "bro" to evoke that mood of a group of guys talking shit in a locker room or whatever. If this version of Beowulf were made into a movie, the soundtrack would be done by Iron Maiden.

United States on Feb 25, 2021

Christian Lemburg: Being familiar with several versions of Beowulf, I really liked the approach here - very lively and readable. I would certainly recommend it to anybody not familiar with Beowulf yet. From a scholarly perspective, my daughter, who is studying the topic, informs me that the claim "a new translation" might be disputed, but as a reader, I don't care. This is a highly readable and entertaining version of this classic poem, which at the same time gives a new perspective on the female players involved.

Germany on Jan 13, 2021

Elianne: If you too were also traumatized by Beowulf in middle school and had been ambivalent to try it again, your time now and this book is it. It's amazing and should be given all the flowers just for that.

Spain on Nov 09, 2020

FDemmon: I've long suspected that the translation I read in high school was a product of the warehouse Bob Newhart imagined in which an infinite number of monkeys labored at their typewriters for eternity trying to write the works of Shakespeare. It made little sense, largely because, while the words had been translated, without context and background they might as well have been left in Old English. The obligatory recitation by the teacher of the first few lines in the original tongue, for all I know, was actually from the Newhart Translation. ("Hwaet! There once was a man of the Geats, who fancied a quest on the streets . . .")

Headley's translation brings this dusty old book to life and drags the reader into it like Grendel's mom wrestled Beowulf. This version has a strong pulse, as one would expect from a story as dark, dangerous, and full of dread that those who heard it recited at their local mead hall must have felt. The characters have a third dimension that was certainly missing from the the Newhart Translation I read. (In fact, that version was linear and had neither breadth not depth). The voices she gives to these worthies from the meres are...

United States on Sep 19, 2020