madeline's Reviews (776)

"Meanwhile, Beowulf gave zero shits." [1441]: 3182 lines of poetry boiled down to one.

Headley presents here a new and nuanced translation of the classic epic poem Beowulf, with a particular focus on gender, power, and understanding the story as "a living text in a dead language."

This is a translation that is just begging to be read aloud -- it's incredibly lyrical and Headley says in her introduction that she focused on the early English verse tradition of alliteration. Plus, it's just fun. Her call to attention (where Heaney used "so") is "Bro!". That's fun! And it serves a double purpose, reinforcing a kind of ""frat boy Beowulf"" attitude that she uses to examine masculinity and power within the poem.

Headley pays special attention to Grendel's mother, translating her less as a feral monster and more as a grieved mother, a "warrior woman, outlaw" and "reclusive night-queen, ... mighty mere-wife" to Heaney's "monstrous hell-bride" and "swamp thing from hell, the tern-wife." The dragon, too, is female to Heaney's male, protecting the horde of a forgotten nation. It's tough to flesh out the role of women in the poem just based on what's available, but Headley does an admirable job. I also remember reading this in high school and being fascinated by the role religion plays in Heaney's translation, present to the point of predestination. Religion is certainly a factor in Headley's translation, but backgrounded enough to let the characters either make choices and win favor, or suffer the repercussions.

Overall, I think this translation is like the Hamilton musical of Beowulf translations -- snappy, attention-getting, waaaaaaaay more accessible than many other translations, but just grating enough in places to be annoying. Things like "throwing shade" and "hashtag: blessed" pop up more than once, which makes me wonder about the longevity of this translation, but isn't that also the point? To make it super usable for the current listeners? I think the few eye-roll moments are well worth it for what's overall a super readable, super enjoyable translation of what I remember being a slog in high school (sorry Mr. Alletto).

Didn't have quite the zip I was looking for, but it raises great questions about authenticity and to whom something is authentic, the perceived value of foodways and what should be expensive, police misconduct and who should be a "good cop", the opioid crisis, and the ways goals change based on growth and experience.  I do think that Detective Parks

was set up to be involved and that was underdeveloped

.  I can't wait to read the next book in this series!