Post by Andorinha on Jan 15, 2009 11:41:37 GMT -6
Beowulf ARCHIVE: Tolkien's Article on Beowulf
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Editorial Note: messages 1 through 7 were not relevant to this topic.
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Message 1 of 1 in Discussion
From: Storrmrider
Sent: 10/24/2002 1:21 PM
Reply
Message 8 of 12 in Discussion
From: CathyL
Sent: 10/20/2002 12:59 PM
Hi Beowulfians,
I have the Seamus Heaney translation in a Norton Critical edition which has a long excerpt from Tolkien's classic article. And I got Heaney on CD. Awesome. This is going to be so cool. Thanks for all the work putting it together.
CathyL
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Message 9 of 12 in Discussion
From: Zauber
Sent: 10/22/2002 5:45 AM
CathyL, it would be great if you could share insights and information from the Tolkien article on Beowulf. I have a pre-ordered copy I am waiting for but it has yet to arrive. Other copies are way out of my price range.
Seamus Heaney is going to be giving a reading at Goucher College (In Baltimore, Maryland) this Thursday evening. I am trying to find out if any tickets are still available.
Zauber
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Reply
Message 10 of 12 in Discussion
From: CathyL
Sent: 10/22/2002 5:09 PM
I've barely started the Tolkien article excerpt, monograph is probably more accurate, published in Proceedings of the British Academy, 1936. He proposes to focus on the monsters, Grendel and the Dragon, hence his title, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics." His contention is that Beowulf has been studied as an exercise in history, mythology, philology, folklore, the heroic legend, and archaeology, but not as poetry. Here's a really interesting excerpt in support of his proposal to look at the work as, above all, a poem.
"...Beowulf is, in fact, so interesting as poetry, in places poetry so powerful, that this quite overshadows the historical content, and is largely independent even of the most important historical facts (such as the date and identity of Hygelac) that research has discovered....The illusion of historical truth and perspective, that has made Beowulf seem such an attractive quarry, is largely a product of art. The author has used an instinctive historical sense-- a part indeed of the ancient English temper (and not unconnected with its reputed melancholy), of which Beowulf is a supreme expression; but he has used it with a poetical and not an historical object. The lovers of poetry can safely study the art, but the seekers after history must beware lest the glamour of Poesis oversome them."
I find this really interesting in light of his own art. More to come.
Cathy
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Reply
Message 11 of 12 in Discussion
From: CathyL
Sent: 10/22/2002 5:12 PM
Now that I've hit the "send message" button, I'm wondering if we need a thread for Tolkien's article and other critical studies. Feel free to move this or whatever.
Cathy
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Reply
Message 12 of 12 in Discussion
From: Zauber
Sent: 10/24/2002 6:40 AM
Glor, or another manager -- could you please set this up as another thread? If possible; it would be handy!
Thanks for this CathyL. I particularly was struck by "The illusion of historical truth and perspective, that has made Beowulf such as attractive quarry." I think JRRT certainly mastered the illusion, with Middle Earth extending so deep into time, and I am so very impressed by the 'jewels' he recovered from the 'quarry' of Beowulf.
Zauber
____________________________________
Editorial Note: messages 1 through 7 were not relevant to this topic.
_________________________________________
Reply
Message 1 of 1 in Discussion
From: Storrmrider
Sent: 10/24/2002 1:21 PM
Reply
Message 8 of 12 in Discussion
From: CathyL
Sent: 10/20/2002 12:59 PM
Hi Beowulfians,
I have the Seamus Heaney translation in a Norton Critical edition which has a long excerpt from Tolkien's classic article. And I got Heaney on CD. Awesome. This is going to be so cool. Thanks for all the work putting it together.
CathyL
__________________________________
Reply
Message 9 of 12 in Discussion
From: Zauber
Sent: 10/22/2002 5:45 AM
CathyL, it would be great if you could share insights and information from the Tolkien article on Beowulf. I have a pre-ordered copy I am waiting for but it has yet to arrive. Other copies are way out of my price range.
Seamus Heaney is going to be giving a reading at Goucher College (In Baltimore, Maryland) this Thursday evening. I am trying to find out if any tickets are still available.
Zauber
______________________________________
Reply
Message 10 of 12 in Discussion
From: CathyL
Sent: 10/22/2002 5:09 PM
I've barely started the Tolkien article excerpt, monograph is probably more accurate, published in Proceedings of the British Academy, 1936. He proposes to focus on the monsters, Grendel and the Dragon, hence his title, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics." His contention is that Beowulf has been studied as an exercise in history, mythology, philology, folklore, the heroic legend, and archaeology, but not as poetry. Here's a really interesting excerpt in support of his proposal to look at the work as, above all, a poem.
"...Beowulf is, in fact, so interesting as poetry, in places poetry so powerful, that this quite overshadows the historical content, and is largely independent even of the most important historical facts (such as the date and identity of Hygelac) that research has discovered....The illusion of historical truth and perspective, that has made Beowulf seem such an attractive quarry, is largely a product of art. The author has used an instinctive historical sense-- a part indeed of the ancient English temper (and not unconnected with its reputed melancholy), of which Beowulf is a supreme expression; but he has used it with a poetical and not an historical object. The lovers of poetry can safely study the art, but the seekers after history must beware lest the glamour of Poesis oversome them."
I find this really interesting in light of his own art. More to come.
Cathy
_______________________________________
Reply
Message 11 of 12 in Discussion
From: CathyL
Sent: 10/22/2002 5:12 PM
Now that I've hit the "send message" button, I'm wondering if we need a thread for Tolkien's article and other critical studies. Feel free to move this or whatever.
Cathy
________________________________________
Reply
Message 12 of 12 in Discussion
From: Zauber
Sent: 10/24/2002 6:40 AM
Glor, or another manager -- could you please set this up as another thread? If possible; it would be handy!
Thanks for this CathyL. I particularly was struck by "The illusion of historical truth and perspective, that has made Beowulf such as attractive quarry." I think JRRT certainly mastered the illusion, with Middle Earth extending so deep into time, and I am so very impressed by the 'jewels' he recovered from the 'quarry' of Beowulf.
Zauber