Poetry Readers Challenge discussion

Though purists disapprove, I relish this approach to translating a classic: sharply intelligent; witty; sparkling with sound-play and gasp-provokingly bold choices of proposed equivalencies, evidence of a poet's ear; enriched by a coherent translatorial point-of-view, an unmistakable translatorial voice; and, on top of it all, fast-paced and wildly entertaining. Translator Headley sticks a dagger in the side of this old tale with a perfect blend of respect and effrontery, much like, say, a warrior confronting a dragon whom bystanders might suspect of outclassing him: though she begins her translation with a slangy "Bro!" and ends it with a likewise anachronistic-sounding "He was the man," making it her good-humor-laced quest to illuminate the work's modernity-relevant subtexts on gender performance and masculinity, yet she never seems to underrate or disrespect her source material or the poetry-loving soul of its characters' social system, and she somehow manages to endow that final "He was the man" with equal parts wit and sincere emotion. It's an impressive feat. Headley shows us Beowulf in multiple lights simultaneously: as an almost-caricature of machismo, yes, but also as a man of some depth -- a good fighter but rather reluctant ruler, capable of human empathy toward worthy adversaries ("For a moment, / he felt for his old foes, fen-bound, embarking alone"), his brain (or "word-vault") brimming with not only bloodlust but also eloquent language. If you like, say, Christopher Logue's takes on Homer, you may want to give this one a try.

Jenna wrote: "Though purists disapprove, I relish this approach to translating a classic: sharply intelligent; witty; sparkling with sound-play and gasp-provokingly bold choices of proposed equivalencies, eviden..."

I guess I'm one of the purists, but it does sound interesting. Not sure about the use of "bro" though. That alone is pushing me back to my copy of Beowulf in the original.

Thanks for reading, J.S.! Between us, I think my husband and I own three different translations of Beowulf. He's very partial to the Heaney, knows chunks of it by heart. It's funny how passionate we all feel about the subject of translations. Even more so than talking about poetry itself, talking about translations is so liable to cause rifts in friendships and families :-D