Beowulf at Kalamazoo: Essays on Translation and Performance
edited by Jana K. Schulman and Paul E. Szarmach
“Beowulf ” at Kalamazoo: Essays on Translation and Performance is a collection of essays
designed to capitalize on the success of Seamus Heaney’ prize-winning translation of Beowulf,
which bridges the gap between the ivory tower where most who study Beowulf reside and lay
readers drawn to the poem because of Heaney’s reputation, the review in the New York Times
Book Review, the Whitbread Prize for poetry, and even perhaps the attractive and eye-catching
cover. The reality is that Heaney’s Beowulf —no matter the response—did something that few
other translations have done: cause people to read the poem. At the same time, the last halfgeneration of scholars has shown a noteworthy interest in the performance aspects of the text,
influenced by oral-formulaic theory to a significant degree.
The book is conceived in three parts. The first section—essays by Daniel Donoghue, the
late Nicholas Howe, R. M. Liuzza, Jana K. Schulman, Paul E. Szarmach, Jan Čermák, MaríaJosé Gómez-Calderón, Katalin Halácsy Scholz, Claudia Di Sciacca and Loredana Teresi, and
Pétur Knútsson—explores translations into modern English and languages other than English.
The second part—a roundtable with Benjamin Bagby, John Miles Foley, and Karl Reichl,
moderated by Mark Amodio, and essays by Foley and Reichl—explores issues of oral theory
and performance. The third part of the collection offers a wide selection of reviews of Heaney’s
Beowulf written by Anglo-Saxonists. A DVD of readings of the first fifty-two lines of Beowulf in Old English, Czech,
Spanish, Icelandic, Hungarian, and Italian, and selections from Turkish and Asian epics accompanies the volume.
“Beowulf ” at Kalamazoo should be of interest to Anglo-Saxonists, translation theorists, linguists, oral and performance
theorists, and anyone anywhere in an English department who teaches Beowulf in translation.
Introduction by Jana K. Schulman and Paul E. Szarmach
Contents
Part 1. Essays on Translation
The Languages of Beowulf between Klaeber and Heaney
by Daniel Donoghue
Who’s Afraid of Translating Beowulf? by †Nicholas Howe
Iron and Irony in Beowulf by R. M. Liuzza
Monstrous Introductions: Ellengæst and Āglǣcwīf
by Jana K. Schulman
Sweet’s Prose Beowulf by Paul E. Szarmach
Behēmas þa Hildlatan: Beowulf and Its First Translation into Czech
by Jan Čermák
Beowulf in Spanish by María José Gómez-Calderón
Beowulf in Hungarian by Katalin Halácsy Scholz
Italian Translations of Beowulf by Claudia Di Sciacca
and Loredana Teresi
The Intimacy of Bjólfskviða by Pétur Knútsson
Part 2. Essays on Performance
Performance I: Beowulf (A Roundtable Discussion) with Mark
Amodio, Benjamin Bagby, Karl Reichl, and John Miles Foley
Why Performance Matters by John Miles Foley
“Swutol sang scopes”: Field Notes on the Performance of Beowulf
by Karl Reichl
Part 3. Reviews of Heaney’s Beowulf
The Sheen on the Mere, or Beowulf in Ulster by Michael Alexander
Putting a Bawn into Beowulf: Some Reflections on Heaney’s New
Translation by S. A. J. Bradley
Review of Beowulf by S. A. J. Bradley
Beowulf—Dinosaur, Monster or Visionary Poem? by Graham Caie
Heaney’s Beowulf: Gleaning the Unsaid off the Palpable
by Jan Čermák
Beowulf and ‘Heaneywulf ’ by Howell Chickering
The Philologer Poet: Seamus Heaney and the Translation of
Beowulf by Daniel Donoghue
Translating ‘Beowulf ’ by Daniel Donoghue
Translating ‘Beowulf ’ by Randi Eldevik
“So.” So What? It’s a Culture War. That’s Hwæt! by Loren C. Gruber
Scullionspeak by †Nicholas Howe
Review of Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf: A New Translation
by Heather O’Donoghue
Beowulf for the Big-Voiced Scullions by Tom Shippey
Review of Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf: A New Translation
by E. G. Stanley
Review of Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf: A New Translation
by G. Storms
Still Epic After All These Years by Julian Wasserman
Review of Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf: A New Translation
by Hideki Watanabe
Review of R. M. Liuzza’s Beowulf: A New Verse Translation and
Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf: A New Verse Translation
by Gernot Wieland
Review of Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf: A New Translation and R. M.
Liuzza’s Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Jonathan Wilcox
Bibliography
Index
SMC L, Copyright 2012, pp. x + 434 • ISBN 978-1-58044-152-0
• Clothbound with jacket • $65.00
www.wmich.edu/medieval/mip • Buy this book