Series | Medieval and Modern Philologies
Review | Translating: A Journey in Time
Chapter | L’arrivo di Grendel a Heorot
L’arrivo di Grendel a Heorot
Riflessioni su alcune scelte traduttive in lingua inglese (Morris, Tinker, Tolkien, Heaney e Porter)
Abstract
This essay takes into account some English translations of the Old English poem Beowulf. Matter of specific investigation is the passage of the coming of Grendel to the Danes’ court Heorot. As the translations of Beowulf are countless, only specific and emblematic cases – both in prose and verse – are analysed. Then, the translations by William Morris, Chancey Brewster Tinker, J.R.R. Tolkien, Seamus Heaney and John Porter are compared trying to ascertain the approach of those translators to the Old English text and furthermore the intentions they had in rendering the poem into Modern English. The big problem that all the translators consciously tackled was the chronological and linguistic distance of Beowulf that had to be solved in some way. Choices and strategies differ from one version to another, but every solution demonstrates a specific attention to the musicalness of the original together with a deep awareness for the tradition that the Old English poem embodies.
Submitted: Jan. 17, 2018 | Accepted: Feb. 19, 2018 | Published May 24, 2018 | Language: it
Keywords J • R • Beowulf • William Morris • Seamus Heaney • Chancey Brewster Tinker • Old English • Tolkien • Translation • John Porter
Copyright © 2018 Alessandro Zironi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-248-2/004
