Like many college students, when I’m assigned a book to read and write a report on this rarely evokes positive feelings. It’s even less likely when that story is dated before the renaissance but after when it would be considered cool and ‘ancient’. However, recently I was assigned to read a translation of Beowulf that shakes off the expected stuffiness of old literature while preserving the Scandinavian folklore. The Maria Dahvana Headley translation of Beowulf has changed the way old literature is usually read and successfully directed my interest onto Scandinavian history.
Beowulfis a story of the best the fighter in this Scandinavian world. Driven by his desire to prove this to anyone who will listen, Beowulf is faced with three major antagonists. Two of these he encounters as mercenary enlisted by the King of Danes and he faces the final boss in his home of Geatland after a 50-year reign as king. While these great battles are the peaks of excitement, the intermediate periods are filled with tales about Beowulf’s past fights, other warriors’ stories, as well as political tensions between and within various kingdoms.
Beowulf’s transcription dates back about 1000 years but likely had its start in the spoken word. In a brief analysis published by Course Hero, it’s explained that Beowulf was likely written down by Christian monks. In this process it’s clear some elements were forcibly Christianized. For example, The first two monster-esque antagonists are descendants of the Christian canon’s first murderer Cain. On the other hand, I don’t remember trolls or sea monsters playing very active rolls in the Christian bible. Details like this make for an interesting interplay between preexisting supernatural narratives and the insertion of Christianity.
The fact that this story comes from the oral tradition of storytelling becomes fairly obvious throughout the book due to the many diversions from the main narrative. Occasionally, stories of seemingly random characters are inserted in the midst of narrative progression while at other times the narrator will insert their reactions to the action taking place. To some, these tangents may seem like annoying departures from the main events, I disagree. To me, these tangents helped me feel connected to those who would’ve been telling the story. It felt like the narrator had pieces of extra context from other stories pop into their head in the middle of telling this story. This is certainly something I find myself doing when retelling any sequence of events.
Connecting readers to who would truly be telling this story in its time was a specific goal of translator Maria Dahvana Headley. Headley described in an event with Dan Rosenberg that the original story would’ve likely been dispersed by story tellers more similar to an old guy in a bar rather than a professor. For this reason, rather than treating the story as academic work she translated the story as a “bro story.” Whereas in past translations more stuffy language had been used, Headley used the words bro and dude throughout the story which seemed to fit quite well. The story being interpreted in this light isn’t only more palatable but gives a view into long standing social dynamics through a piece of old literature. This book is a translation which to me means the character portrayals could only wander as far as the narrative and original language would allow. So, the propping up of the patriarchal order, for example, that this story provides should be attributed to the story itself not the translator’s projection on to it, but Headley’s wording allowed me to see those dynamics playing out clearly. Headley’s goal was to provide to a modern audience the story in relatable language and in doing so provided a clear lens into old power dynamics we still live with today.
While I don’t mean to throw shade at Shakespeare, for me this down-to-earth translation made this old story much more interesting to read than deciphering any Shakespearean play. While I understand the hesitancy to pick up a piece of old literature, I can assure you this translation breaks from the expected stuffiness old literature can provide. If you find yourself assigned to read this translation of Beowulf in a Humanities class, give it a chance I bet it will surprise you.
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