Beowulf on Film: Adaptations and Variations - Softcover

Haydock, Nickolas; Risden, E.L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786463384 ISBN 13: 9780786463381

Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2013

Synopsis

Why did the most read work in English literature go without cinematic adaptation for so long? And why did five major film treatments appear between 1999 and 2008? This book explores the growing number of films based on the Old English epic poem Beowulf, and furthers the ongoing consideration of filmic medievalism. Will the powerful influence of cinema affect the future reception of this great cultural, linguistic and inherently visual work? The films inevitably sway away from not only the story but also from the themes and concerns of the original to those more interesting to the filmmakers--or responsive to the zeitgeist. They measure the pulse of our inherited notions of heroism and teach us more about our own times than about the epic from which they derive.

About this title

About the Author

Nickolas Haydock is a professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. In addition to movie medievalism and film, he also writes about medieval Scots literature.

E.L. Risden is a professor of English at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. He has published books and essays on medieval and Renaissance studies as well as poetry and fiction.

Review

• “recommended”—Bookgasm
• “intriguing”—ProtoView
• “recommend this highly”—Destructive Music

Edition details

• Publisher: McFarland & Company
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0786463384
• ISBN 13: 9780786463381
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 220