Klaeber's Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg

by Unknown, Friedrich Klaeber (Editor), Robert D. Fulk (Editor)

Frederick Klaeber's Beowulf has long been the standard edition for study by students and advanced scholars alike. Its wide-ranging coverage of scholarship, its comprehensive philological aids, and its exceptionally thorough notes and glossary have ensured its continued use in spite of the fact that the book has remained largely unaltered since 1936. The fourth edition has been prepared with the aim of updating the scholarship while preserving the aspects of Klaeber's work that have made it useful to students of literature, linguists, historians, folklorists, manuscript specialists, archaeologists, and theorists of culture. A revised Introduction and Commentary incorporates the vast store of scholarship on Beowulf that has appeared since 1950. It brings readers up to date on areas of scholarship that have been controversial since the last edition, including the construction of the unique manuscript and views on the poem's date and unity of composition. The lightly revised text incorporates the best textual criticism of the intervening years, and the expanded Commentary furnishes detailed bibliographic guidance to discussion of textual cruces, as well as to modern and contemporary critical concerns. Aids to pronunciation have been added to the text, and advances in the study of the poem's language are addressed throughout. Readers will find that the book remains recognizably Klaeber's work, but with altered and added features designed to render it as useful today as it has ever been.

Genres: Poetry, Medieval, Anglo Saxon, History, Reference, Language, Nonfiction

497 pages, Paperback

Published April 5, 2008

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Unknown" when the author or editor (as applicable) is not known and cannot be discovered. If at all possible, list at least one actual author or editor for a book instead of using "Unknown".

Books whose authorship is purposefully withheld should be attributed instead to Anonymous.

Reviews

[Andrew H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beowulf in the original still has enormous power.

[Rianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

18/45 books read in 2017.
9/23 bookshelf read in 2017.
3,5 stars with round up.

I'm having such a hard time rating this book. It is great for studying (the original text, background information & references to more study materials), but to say I fully enjoyed reading this... It is a little bit too much work for me, I guess ;)

[Dave Maddock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished reading Beowulf in the original Old English. What a challenging and rewarding experience!

The 4th edition of Klaeber is perhaps the best critical edition of any work I have ever read.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best scholarly edition of the original text. It is a must read for anyone doing scholarship on this great Old English poem.

The edition however, like all editions, is not without its problems. The interests of the three editors are very clear throughout the whole Commentary and Introduction. This is not to say that it is not helpful, but that other interesting and important points have been set aside. But, overall, this is the best edition available at present.

[nad ✩ · Rating 3 out of 5]

parlatemi ancora una volta di beowulf dopo il
primo settembre e mi sparo nei coglioni

[Abigail Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

translated & read this version of beowulf for college--there's a reason why it's a classic. the editors did a great job of patching up the missing sections of the poem (esp the part concerning the unknown thief) and providing commentary in the notes about the discourse surrounding sections and specific words. beowulf itself is quite a beautiful poem in the original old english, and there are quite a few descriptors that have stuck with me for a while ("beortre bote" from around line 158, and "heofon réce swealg" from the end-ish of the poem are incredible in terms of descriptors and furthering themes). wished the glossary put all of the "ge-" words under the "g" section, instead of treating it like a prefix, but you win some, you lose some.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the edition specifically: There are some interesting contradictions between the goal laid out by the editors in the long introduction and what they wind up doing to the manuscript in the actual poem. Some of their editorial choices are a little strange (turning nouns into names/etc.), and some of their glosses are over-determined while others are simply missing (at least twice, looking up a word in the glossary returns a simple "?" or "see note," the latter of which is extremely unhelpful for the average student, rather than scholar, of the period -- the footnotes in general are all but useless for casual study).

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wrenn's introduction is a thorough walk-through of the history of the history of the study of Beowulf to his time analysis of the features and issues of the text. It is well-written and enjoyable. The rest of the text is the Anglo-Saxon text to Beowulf and I can't offer a qualified opinion on it as opposed to any other.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Translating Beowulf from the Old English into Modern English was some of the most fun I ever had as an undergraduate. If you've got the time and energy to spend learning Old English, I'd recommend it!

[Jeremy]

Studied and translated. Third edition. My copy is marked up, and well worn. The classic. It could not be in paperback for me. The joy was in the holding and declaiming.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only for the Finnesburg Fragment.

[Elizabeth Leocadia Pualani · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest challenges I undertook but so worth it

[Blunt Of Mercia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going through the original is like visiting somewhere you have only seen in a small grainy photograph.