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Rating: 
Summary: A mastermind masterpiece in English poetry
Review: A very useful book on a cult poem in English literature, maybe the founding poem of English literature. The translation of the Anglosaxon text is altogether good because nearly word for word. Yet it contains some imperfections, or some untranslatable - and improperly rendered - elements. For example the text contains at least thirteen words to speak of the sword, without counting developed metaphors or descriptions. It is of course impossible to translate such lexical richness. But it is a sign of this iron-age civilization bent to fighting with this sword, among other equipment. It shows the great symbolical value of the sword in this culture before the arrival of christianity, and it will survive after the conversion of these peoples to this new religion. This text also represents the christianizing of the old mythology or religion of scandinavion, germanic and probably celtic peoples. Hence the All Father (Odin) of this culture, becomes in the text « Father all-ruling » (section 4), « All-ruler » (section 19), « Ruler of Men » (section 24), « Ruler of Glory » (section 25), « wise Lord » (section 26), « the Ruler ... everlasting Lord » (section 33), and then a standard « God » several times. This chritianizing of an old religion is an essential aim of this poetry and it is done with great care. For example again, the twelve children that pay homage to Beowulf after his being cremated, are a reference to the twelve apostles, the twelve doors of the messianic Jerusalem, the twelve layers of gems in the wall of the messianic Jerusalem, all references to the Bible. But twelve is also the runic letter Eoh or Eihwaz, representing the yew tree, a symbol of death in many ways, and even of the « Ragnarok », the end of the world, the great hunt and war among all living beings, men and gods alike, that will bring the world down, and maybe its regeneration afterwards. Here the christian context moves this regeneration towards that of the soul after death and eventually after the second coming, Doomsday. If we study this poem from this symbolical point of view, with all the cross-references we can imagine and find, we have a masterpiece that spans centuries of old culture and religion and opens up on centuries of a new culture and religion. It is the passageway between two spiritual worlds. It would be very interesting to compare the dragon of the « Book of Revelations » and the dragon that finally kills Beowulf though he is also killed by Beowulf simultaneously. We have to remember that Shakespeare was extremely learned about these cultural facts and that the three « Weird Sisters » in Macbeth are his modern version of the three Norns, Urd, Vervandi and Skuld, who govern our lives and our fate. And what's more « weird » comes from the word « wyrd » that means « fate » in Beowulf, that is fate in Odin's mythology, that is the twenty-fifth rune, and the vision of Beowulf's fate in this poem is very scandinavian, germanic : you do not fight against fate, you assume your fate and stand up to it, even if it means your death. A man in this culture is standing up in front of fate not to oppose it but to live or die upright and assuming anything that may come. No submission to death. No submission in life. One must live and die on one's feet, facing the future, one's weapons in one's hands, believing that one will be something beyond any challenge if one can say : « I was walking tall in the face of life and death ». This poem is a lesson of courage and stamina, as well as of our limits in front of the personal, social, natural, historical or cosmic perspectives we have to face. Some of the collected articles after the text are very enlightening, for example J.R.R. Tolkien's.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating: 
Summary: Much more useful than Heaney's version
Review: I am a dissenter from the hype surrounding Seamus Heaney's new translation. I prefer Donaldson for two important reasons: the transparency of the translation and the translator's humble willingness to let stand archaic implications that may seem absurb or offensive to most people today. On a technical level, Donaldson--much more consistently than Heaney--reproduces Old English compounded words and phrases with Modern equivalents. He does this with accuracy and freshness--if not with seamless grace as some readers would prefer. The great advantage of Donaldson's approach is that the reader who does not read OE can at least imagine that she can second-guess the translator, and can feel the raw, rugged texture of the original. Even my 12th grade (inner city high school) students who have bought Heaney's version have become irate at a number of crucial points where the complexity preserved by Donaldson has been eliminated by Heaney. A second point--or a second way of looking at the same point--concerns interpretation. With all due respect to Heaney, he has an agenda related to the future of the European Union, and I suspect that this motivated or influenced his approach to the translation of Beowulf. Heaney is presenting, via the seminal text of Beowulf, a vision of the origins of European politcs that he believes will ultimately lay a foundation for its future viability and humanity. Heaney's version is this a much more creative endeavor than was Donaldson's. Where Donaldson allows seeming incoherencies to emerge for the modern reader, Heaney makes things make sense. The main difference here lies in the treatment of the hero. For Heaney, Beowulf is an unambiguous ideal figure. Donaldson, on the other hand, preserves the original ambiguity of a hero who is physically similar to the monsters he fights in his superiority to ordinary men. Yes, Jacques, there's no translation without interpretation, but there's also a question of degree of control to consider. Heaney's translation falls in line with the unfortunate tradition of Raffel, whose Procrustean approach privileged modern sensibility above everything else. Heaney is much better than Raffel, but Donaldson is one of those rare translations that has and will continue to stand the test of time becaus he didn't try too hard to be a person of his time.
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Summary: I recommend this edition, this translation because:
Review: I am one of those people who, out of pride perhaps, force themselves to read classic old stuff even when it gives me headaches. I was braced for such an experience when I began to read Beowulf. I remembered being completely disinterested when I had to read an excerpt of it in high school. But I was pleasantly surprised. In the first place, Beowulf is short; I was able to read it in an afternoon. Secondly, the translation is very readable and entertaining. A few times I had to read a sentence twice to understand it, but that happens. The translator was definitely a craftsman of the English language. Third, the story is entertaining. It's fun to read. This might not be true of all classic literature! It's an adventure story, and a pleasing one. One reason it was fun to read is that you can feel the pleasures of the heroic values that the poet and his audience shared; in this respect it's similar to what you might experience in "Lord of the Rings." In fact, the story often reminded me of Tolkien--I confidently guaratee that Tolkien fans will enjoy it. (Tolkien also wrote one of the essays included in this edition.) Fourth, it is interesting to read the oldest "English" story (of course our language has evolved so much that we now need a translator). The historical interest is much aided by the essays in the Norton Critical edition, including very helpful maps of England and ancient Scandinavia. One interesting aspect of Beowulf is the tension between pre-Christian values and Christian ones within the story as we know it. Again, the essays were interesting and enlightening about this as well. All in all, this is classic literature at its best: readable, highly entertaining, and educational (and short). The essays and maps really were helpful; you won't need to buy the Cliffs Notes to understand or appreciate the text. If you want to read classic literature, I strongly recommend Beowulf; if you want to read Beowulf, I strongly recommend this edition.
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Summary: True to the Original
Review: Of the translations that I have read this is the most true to the original words. It is a prose translation, so Donaldson did not need to select words based on their sounds and could get the meaning more accurately. The exactness of the translation makes this language sound archaic. The footnotes are quite helpful, especially when going through the difficult passages at the start of the Dragon story that describe the wars of the Swedish succession. Read this translation and then try a poetic translation such as Heaney's.
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