Last week in the threads over at Mindless Diversions, I tossed out the idea of having a Beowulf/Grendel Book Club. It was really just a random afterthought at the end of an overly long comment – kind of like that moment at the end of a night out when you and your friends say, “Hey! We should totally open our own bar!,” and you decide on the name and the theme and who will work which shift and then no one really remembers any of it the next day.
But I’m finding that the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. So, some questions for our readers:
1. First of all, is there any real interest? Were we to have such a Book Club, would people not named Tod actually participate?
2. If we did such a Book Club, should we do it here on the Front Page, or might we want to do it over at Mindless Diversions?
3. John Gardner’s Grendel is written in English, so no real issues there – but there is the question of which translation to use for Beowulf. My initial choice would be to go with Seamus Heaney’s version, both because it’s well regarded and because it’s widely available. But if you want to make a pitch for a different version, feel free.
4. My inclination would be to read Beowulf through and then read Grendel. However, we could read them at the same time, or in the opposite order, or something else.
Thoughts?
Before I sign on to anything, I need to know where Robert Zemeckis 2007 Beowulf will be fitting into all this.Report
Ms. Jolie will be invited to attend; other than that, I’m not sure it will have a place except where brought up in the threads.Report
We have to do the book club naked.Report
It’s the Internet. I assume you are all naked all the time.Report
She’s onto us! Cheese it!Report
I’m interested, but can’t make any promises about commitment.
Hell, I’m even behind in my bourbon club tasting.Report
That’s why God made binge-clubbing.Report
Wait, I have to read Beowulf in one sitting?
Sigh, well, I guess it’s not really that long.Report
I first read Beowulf (the Seamus Heaney translation, which I recommend) hungover at 7 in the morning in someone else’s house the morning after a party, while I waited for people to wake up and come to breakfast with me. I finished it before anyone else was up and ready to go….
(I’ve read it slower since; but really! It’s extremely accessible.)Report
I’ve forgotten what I’m even supposed to be drinking this month.
/searches for the original club post.Report
1. I’m in, finally time to dust off that English Lit. degree.
2. Agnostic on this, depends on how much interest you’d like given I’m pretty sure MD is a lot quieter than the front page.
3. I already have Heaney’s translation and it’s really good, so I’m happy to stick with it.
4. I’d prefer to go traditional and talk about Beowulf first, myself, but I’ve read both several times. already.
It may be more accessible for folks who’ve not read either to read Grendel first and then assess whether or not they’re also interested enough to get into Beowulf.Report
I think this sums my position up perfectly. Although I do not have a degree in English…Report
1. Yes!
2. Umm, front page?
I have no opinion on 3 and 4Report
What would it look like?
Would it be a one big post, wham, then talk about it or break it down into three “first third, middle third, last third” posts (or whatever fraction)?Report
Even though Beowulf isn’t that long, breaking it into two or three posts might be a good idea — there are two adventures/settings/halves in the poem. Maybe it depends on how many parts we’d be inclined to spend on the Gardener?
And I should definitely dig around to see if I’ve still got the Beowulf parody I wrote in 10th grade English — and see whether I still find it at all funny.Report
This will be a puzzler. Beowulf is longer and will, I’m sure, require more sludging than Grendel. And yet I think at most Beowulf is broken up into the three adventures, while I could write a post of every single chapter of Grendel.Report
The Heaney Beowulf is only about 20 pages longer than Grendel, and I think 3 adventures sound just right.
I can’t possibly read Grendel a chapter at a time as I will have flashbacks to my tenth and twelfth grade English classes, in which the life was wrung from several classics at a similarly stately pace.* However, if y’all read it, I will read it too.
*the 11th grade teacher was much better; she made us read faster and spend more time reacting to what we’d read. My small group made a Star Trek:TOS parody of Romeo and Juliet.Report
Your parody sounds much better than my 9th grade attempt to do a Godfather-esque parody/setting for a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (My Brando impression left a great deal to be desired.)
But anyone into TOS parodies of classic literature should track down Kevin Brockmeier’s short story, “The Lady with the Pet Tribble.” (From, of course, Tolstoy’s “Lady with the Pet Dog.”) It’s in his collection The View from the Seventh Layer.Report
1. Yes
2. All posts should be on MD (because I can fix my typos here.)
3. No opinion
4. YesReport
Actually, your reason for #2 is a pretty strong reason for me to keep it on the front page.Report
You know, you can always join the MD collective.
It’s easy, Tod…Report
Gabba gabba.Report
1. I’d do my best to participate, though my attempt to curtail my book-buying budget might mean that I’m only actively involved in the Beowulf half of things. Or maybe it’ll force me start taking advantage of the library situation around these parts…
2. I see no reason NOT to do it on the front page, but I’ll defer to the crowd on this one.
3. The Heaney translation as the “official” one is fine by me, though I always want to welcome alternate translations as long as everyone’s aware that the line numbers might not match up. I’ll be using whichever one is in the Norton Anthology — I think, in fact, that it’s the Heaney.
4. I agree with you, Tod.Report
Heaney’s translation is now the one in the Norton Anthology, though I’m not sure what year that started, obviously after 1999 (so my copy doesn’t).Report
I no read good. Sawry.Report
I’m game.Report