Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary - Paperback

by J. R. R. Tolkien (Author), Christopher Tolkien (Author)

New York Times bestseller

"A thrill . . . Beowulf was Tolkien's lodestar. Everything he did led up to or away from it." --New Yorker

J.R.R. Tolkien completed his translation of Beowulf in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication. This edition includes an illuminating written commentary on the poem by the translator himself, drawn from a series of lectures he gave at Oxford in the 1930s.

His creative attention to detail in these lectures gives rise to a sense of the immediacy and clarity of his vision. It is as if Tolkien entered into the imagined past: standing beside Beowulf and his men shaking out their mail-shirts as they beach their ship on the coast of Denmark, listening to Beowulf's rising anger at Unferth's taunting, or looking up in amazement at Grendel's terrible hand set under the roof of Heorot.

"Essential for students of the Old English poem--and the ideal gift for devotees of the One Ring." --Kirkus

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Front cover: New York Times bestseller


Back cover:

A thrill . . . Beowulf was Tolkien s lodestar. Everything he did led up to or away from it. New Yorker

J.R.R. Tolkien completed his translation of Beowulf in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication. This edition includes an illuminating written commentary on the poem by the translator himself, drawn from a series of lectures he gave at Oxford in the 1930s.

His creative attention to detail in these lectures gives rise to a sense of the immediacy and clarity of his vision. It is as if Tolkien entered into the imagined past: standing beside Beowulf and his men shaking out their mail-shirts as they beach their ship on the coast of Denmark, listening to Beowulf s rising anger at Unferth s taunting, or looking up in amazement at Grendel s terrible hand set under the roof of Heorot.

Essential for students of the Old English poem and the ideal gift for devotees of the One Ring. Kirkus

J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892 1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and the author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than sixty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN is the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. He has devoted himself since his father s death to the editing and publication of unpublished writings, notably The Silmarillion and the collections entitled Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth.
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Author Biography

J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892-1973) is the creator of Middle-earth and the author of such classic and extraordinary works of fiction as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. His books have been translated into more than fifty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.

CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN is the third son of J.R.R. Tolkien. Appointed by Tolkien to be his literary executor, he has devoted himself to the editing and publication of unpublished writings.