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Beowulf
- Narrated by: Royce Pierreson, Roy McMillan - introduction
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
Brought to you by Penguin.
This Penguin Classic is performed by Royce Pierreson, star of Line of Duty, Our Girl and The Witcher. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Michael Alexander.
Beowulf is the greatest surviving work of literature in Old English, unparalleled in its epic grandeur and scope. It tells the story of the heroic Beowulf and of his battles, first with the monster Grendel, who has laid waste to the great hall of the Danish king Hrothgar, then with Grendel's avenging mother and finally with a dragon that threatens to devastate his homeland.
Through its blend of myth and history, Beowulf vividly evokes a twilight world in which men and supernatural forces live side by side. And it celebrates the endurance of the human spirit in a transient world.
Critic reviews
"Alexander's translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful [and]...communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication. May it go on...to another half-million copies." (Tom Shippey, Bulletin of the International Association of University Professors of English)
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The Canterbury Tales
- A New Unabridged Translation by Burton Raffel
- By: Geoffrey Chaucer
- Narrated by: uncredited
- Length: 22 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Lively, absorbing, often outrageously funny, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales is a work of genius, an undisputed classic that has held a special appeal for each generation of readers. The Tales gathers 29 of literature's most enduring (and endearing) characters in a vivid group portrait that captures the full spectrum of medieval society, from the exalted Knight to the humble Plowman. This unabridged work is based on the new translation.
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Lack of coherant "chapters"
- By Jensophie on 02-24-10
By: Geoffrey Chaucer
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Norse Mythology Collection: The Prose Edda and The Poetic Edda (Complete Set) (Annotated)
- By: Snorri Sturluson, Anonymous
- Narrated by: Collin Moore
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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The Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda are our oldest written sources for Norse mythology. When it comes to the norse myths, they are the closest thing we have to listening these stories as the vikings actually told them, around those ancient campfires so long ago. It is my hope that you will enjoy this collection, and that the two books will work in tandem to broaden and deepen your appreciation for these epic and mystical stories, and the enigmatic culture that spawned them.
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the performance was very good
- By AMY YOUNT on 11-03-23
By: Snorri Sturluson, and others
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Beowulf
- By: Robert K. Gordon, translator
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Beowulf is considered the finest heroic poem in Old English. It celebrates the character and exploits of Beowulf, a young nobleman and warrior, as he proves his superhuman strength and endurance. He also represents the ideal lord and vassal, rewarding his men generously and accomplishing glorious deeds to honor his king.
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Translator Preferred
- By JerryT on 05-10-05
By: Robert K. Gordon, and others
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The Faerie Queene
- By: Edmund Spenser
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 33 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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This remarkable poem, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I, was Spenser's finest achievement. The first epic poem in modern English, The Faerie Queene combines dramatic narratives of chivalrous adventure with exquisite and picturesque episodes of pageantry. At the same time, Spenser is expounding a deeply-felt allegory of the eternal struggle between Truth and Error....
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High Fantasy from the Renaissance
- By Jabba on 10-03-15
By: Edmund Spenser
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Beowulf
- By: Stephen Mitchell
- Narrated by: Stephen Mitchell
- Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Stephen Mitchell's marvelously clear and vivid rendering recreates the robust masculine music of the original. It both hews closely to the Old English and captures its wild energy and vitality, not just as a deep "work of literature" but also as a rousing entertainment that can still stir our feelings and rivet our attention today, after more than a thousand years. This new translation - spare, sinuous, vigorous in its narration, and translucent in its poetry - makes a masterpiece accessible to everyone.
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Great translation, weak reading
- By Tad Davis on 10-24-17
By: Stephen Mitchell
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The Three Musketeers (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Alexandre Dumas, William Robson - translator
- Narrated by: Guy Mott
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Young nobleman d’Artagnan has arrived in Paris intent on joining the guardians of King Louis XIII. He befriends the regiment’s most formidable musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, and together they unite in their commitment to uphold justice. Soon, a royal indiscretion thrusts them into an audacious escapade of courtly intrigue, thwarted romance, and daring rescue. But it’s the Machiavellian schemes of a powerful enemy and the wicked seductions of an ingenious female spy that will be their greatest challenges.
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terrible narrator. every comma is a 3 second pause
- By Anonymous User on 09-21-21
By: Alexandre Dumas, and others
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Gilgamesh
- A New English Version
- By: Stephen Mitchell - translator
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 4 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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This brilliant new treatment of the world's oldest epic is a literary event on par with Seamus Heaney's wildly popular Beowulf translation. Esteemed translator and best-selling author Stephen Mitchell energizes a heroic tale so old it predates Homer's Iliad by more than a millennium.
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A defense of this "translation"
- By George on 07-16-08
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The Greek Histories
- The Sweeping History of Ancient Greece as Told by Its First Chroniclers: Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Plutarch
- By: Mary Lefkowitz, James Romm
- Narrated by: Vivienne Leheny
- Length: 18 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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The historians of ancient Greece were pioneers of a new literary craft; their work stands among the world’s most enduring and important legacies and forms the foundation of a major modern discipline. This easy-to-follow edition includes new and newly revised translations of selections from Herodotus - often called the “father of history” - Thucydides, Xenophon, and Plutarch, the four greatest Greek innovators of historical narrative. Here the listener will find their most important, and most widely taught, passages collected in a single volume.
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Great material....
- By Nom de Guerre on 01-30-22
By: Mary Lefkowitz, and others
What listeners say about Beowulf
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 12-16-22
beowulf a classical masterpiece
Beowulf is a true classic worth hearing from the epics of norse and saxon writings.
This translation is a marvelous achievemnt and the narration is superb.
A truly phenomenal experience.
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- Tad Davis
- 04-10-21
Excellent translation and reading
Of all the translations that are available, my favorite remains the one by Stephen Mitchell. But the audio version of Mitchell’s translation is marred by a weak reading, courtesy of Mitchell himself, who simply doesn’t have the voice for it. Royce Pierreson does have the voice for it, and he does a fine job with Michael Alexander’s (also) excellent translation.
The language is somewhat heightened —dignified, like the story itself — but not in any way archaic or obscure. (One exception: to capture the flavor of Old English, Alexander does, like many translators, preserve some of the kennings of the original: for instance, calling the ocean “the whale-road” or describing Beowulf as “unlocking his word-hoard” when he’s about to speak. (I can’t think of a single translation of the poem that doesn’t keep that last one.) On the whole it goes down smoothly, and the tragic end of the poem comes across with the sadness of an ice-bound ship.
And as always with the Penguin titles, the introduction — here read by Roy McMillan — adds considerable value to the audiobook. The introductions have always been one of the highlights of the Penguin classics, and it was a smart marketing decision to include them.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Geoffrey W
- 05-20-23
Great, faithful rendition!
Wonderful reading. Great story. This was my first listen of Beowulf and I thoroughly enjoyed everything about my experience. I highly recommend this audiobook.
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