Beowulf: An Imitative Translation

Ruth P.M. Lehmann

ISBN 10: 0292707711 / ISBN 13: 9780292707719

Published by University of Texas Press November 1988, 1988

About this Item

Support Small Business by buying this book! Family-owned bookshop in Steubenville, Ohio: BookMarx Bookstore. Books shipped within 24-48 hours. Translated by Ruth P.M. Lehmann. No marks or writing observed in text. Binding sound. No creasing to spine. Light wear on cover. Some light dampstaining to bottom corner edges of pages.

Seller Inventory # 126247

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Beowulf: An Imitative Translation
• Publisher: University of Texas Press November 1988
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0292707711
• ISBN 13: 9780292707719
• Binding: Trade Paperback
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Lit::Poetry

About this title

Synopsis

The name "Beowulf" lingers in our collective memory, although today fewer people have heard the tale of the Germanic hero's fight with Grendel, the dreadful Monster of the Mere, as recounted in this Anglo-Saxon epic.

This edition of Beowulf makes the poem more accessible than ever before. Ruth Lehmann's imitative translation is the only one available that preserves both the story line of the poem and the alliterative versification of the Anglo-Saxon original. The characteristic features of Anglo-Saxon poetry— alliterative verse with first-syllable stress, flexible word order, and inflectional endings—have largely disappeared in Modern English, creating special problems for the translator. Indeed, many other translations of Beowulf currently available are either in prose or in some modern poetic form. Dr. Lehmann's translation alone conveys the "feel" of the original, its rhythm and sound, the powerful directness of the Germanic vocabulary.

In her introduction, Dr. Lehmann gives a succinct summary of the poem's plot, touching on the important themes of obligation and loyalty, of family feuds, unforgivable crimes, the necessity of revenge, and the internal and external struggles of the Scandinavian tribes. She also describes the translation process in some detail, stating the guiding principles she used and the inevitable compromises that were sometimes necessary.

About the Author

A noted medievalist, the late Ruth P. M. Lehmann was a professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin.