Beowulf

By: Stephen Mitchell

Narrated by: Stephen Mitchell

Length: 3 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2017 Stephen Mitchell (P)2017 Recorded Books

Great translation, weak reading

I’ve been looking forward to Stephen Mitchell’s translation of Beowulf ever since I heard it was coming. I’ve enjoyed several of his other works, and this tale seemed like it was right up his alley. His version is a model of clarity and narrative drive, and he retains enough of the technical features of the original to give a sense of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Most of all he manages to convey the sadness that seems to cling to every line of the poem: a world-weariness that pervades the most exciting battle scenes.

As an audiobook, it suffers from Mitchell’s narration. In his attempt to be clear and understated, he’s managed to compress everything into the same matter-of-fact tone. Beowulf the poem includes single combat, battle sequences, meadhall celebrations, bardic songs, betrayal and grief. Mitchell’s text captures all of this beautifully. But Mitchell’s voice stays on the same (un)emotional level throughout.

I plan to listen to it again, and to evaluate the translation in print. It’s a worthwhile outing, but I wish it was a more dramatic audio experience.

Not a great reading.

Another example of an author (or translator, in this case) who should not be reading his own work.

A classic well done.

The story is timeless and sad in what it says about our love of war. I disagreed with the criticism of the narrator. It was presented as a very old text, not a dramatic, enactment, and I think Mitchell did extremely well in both the translation and the narration. I listen to the sample to make sure you agree.

Great story, Should’ve been read by Someone Else

The translator begins this rendition with a brief history of the original manuscript. It’s fascinating! Written in England, it takes place in Scandinavia referring often to the Danes and the Swedes. It is miraculous that we still have the text. There was a time when only one copy was known to be in existence. When a fire broke out at the library where it was held, the copy was saved by being thrown out a window. Then monks decided to copy it down from that solitary one, it was said that the brittle, burnt pages were crumbling away even as they copied.

Until J.R.R. Tolkien’s translation and commentary of Beowulf, it was virtually unknown and unappreciated. Mitchell spends a good portion of the introduction discussing the unknown author’s Christianity which is debated among scholars today. Christianity came to England at about the 4th century, and Beowulf is believed to have been written in about the 6th century; but this translator, who seems Biblically literate himself, clarifies that the author’s Christianity seems like a strange one. Only Genesis is quoted throughout, opportunities for the hero to praise Jesus are absent, and instead, pagan rituals and values seem to reign. It seems more like Christi-pagan synchronism. I felt like he belabored the point, but while reading it, the religion really doesn’t have the same feel as the Norse or Greek mythos of the “Poetic Edda” or “The Iliad”. Tolkien believed that it was a Christian author writing about his pagan past.

A quick read, Beowulf journeys to a nearby kingdom to defeat the demonic giant Grendel who snatches and eats people in their sleep. After defeating Grendel, his mother rises up to take revenge on her dead son. She is described as a hunched over, as demonic as her son. No wonder the translator openly scoffs at the casting of Angelina Jolie in the 2007 film adaptation! After he defeats Grendel’s mother, Beowulf goes on to be a kind, generous king. His kingdom later becomes haunted by a beastly dragon which he goes out to defeat. This adventure correlates most easily with Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”. His love of Beowulf rings loud and clear. This will make it an entertaining read for Tolkien fans.

The translator is the narrator… which is unfortunate. He was so bland and monotonous. Other Audible reviewers agreed. It was a real let-down.

Poor Performance

The reading could not keep my interest; the monotone was weak and difficult to continue listening to. I kept rewinding but found myself far ahead without having captured what had happened before. I will just read a hard copy.

Write the story but please don't read it also

Great story, but teller sounds like it's boring him to death.. Really hard listen due to that