Synopses & Reviews
This Guide provides an essential overview of the large body of Beowulf criticism. Like other books in the series, this Guide takes a chronological approach, moving from the discussions of Beowulf by 18th century Antiquarians to Heaney's recent translation. The author charts the changes in the theoretical approaches applied to the poem, and chapters are fully cross-referenced to signal where thematic approaches to the poem overlap. The Guide also includes a chapter discussing Tolkein's 1936 lecture on Beowulf.
Synopsis
This essential overview of the large body of Beowulf criticism takes a chronological approach, moving from eighteenth-century reactions to twenty-first-century responses. Jodi-Anne George charts the changes in critical trends and also discusses popular culture's continuing fascination with the Old English poem.
Synopsis
Of unknown authorship, Beowulf is an Old English epic poem which incites contentious debate and has been endlessly interpreted over the centuries. This Reader's Guide provides a much-needed overview of the large body of Beowulf criticism, moving from 18th century reactions to 21st century responses. Jodi-Ann George:
- Charts the changes in critical trends and theoretical approaches applied to the poem.
- Includes discussion of J. R. R. Tolkein's pioneering 1936 lecture on Beowulf, and Seamus Heaney's recent translation.
- Analyses Beowulf in popular culture, addressing the poem's life in film versions, graphic novels, music and comics.
Clear and engaging, this is an indispensable introductory guide to a widely-studied and enigmatic work which continues to fascinate readers everywhere.
Synopsis
This Guide provides an essential overview of the large body of Beowulf criticism. Like other books in the series, this Guide takes a chronological approach, moving from the discussions of Beowulf by eighteenth century Antiquarians to Heaney's recent translation. The Guide also includes a chapter discussing Tolkein's 1936 lecture on Beowulf.
About the Author
JODI-ANN GEORGE is Lecturer in English at the University of Dundee. In the past, she has taught courses on Old English Language and Literature, Middle English Language and Literature, and papers in the 16th, 17th , 18th and 19th centuries. She has published on the Old English Daniel, seventeenth-century manuscripts and the pre-Raphaelites, and has co-edited the sixteenth-century play Horestes. She is also the editor of Geoffrey Chaucer: The General Prologue in the Readers' Guide series.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements * Introduction * Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Criticism * 1900-1929 * The 1930s and 1940s * The 1950s and 1960s * The 1970s * The 1980s * The 1990s-present * Notes * Select Bibliography * Index