Beowulf : the tragedy of a hero : a reading / Keld Zeruneith ; translated by Paul Russell Garrett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zeruneith, Keld, 1941- author.

Contributor:

Garrett, Paul Russell, translator.

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Standardized Title:

Beowulf. English

Language:

Danish

English

Subjects (All):

Beowulf.

Epic poetry, English (Old)--History and criticism.

Epic poetry, English (Old).

Physical Description:

314 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Sorø, Denmark : U Press, [2023]

Language Note:

Translated from Danish into English.

Summary:

Beowulf may be the most important work in Old English literature, but the poem takes place in Denmark and southern Sweden. And it is Denmark where the poem was first published, and where some of the earliest literary criticism of the work saw the light of day. An amalgamation of pagan and Christian thinking, Beowulf is an archetypal Germanic hero who, though redeemed by the Christian author to a godly life, insists on being buried in a pagan burial mound. Depicted as a glorious hero, he carries with him a childhood trauma -- a result of the humiliation inflicted on him by the warriors of the great hall -- that he seeks to compensate for by steadily enhancing his heroic reputation. The tragic element of Beowulf's life story is twofold: the golden treasure he wins by risking his life battling a dragon is of no use to anyone when it is buried with him; and upon his death he has neither queen nor heir, leaving his land open to enemies. In this book, Keld Zeruneith, who lives near the town of Lejre, where the majority of the poem plays out, strives to provide a complete answer to the many paradoxes of Beowulf.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

8793890494

9788793890497

OCLC:

1418750948

Publisher Number:

99996041008