Tag: video

medievalthedas:

Some of my favorite medieval lit.

Reblogging awesome books.

I studied Beowulf twice in undergrad (once in Intro Western Lit I, again in British Lit I, and some comparative stuff with The Eaters of the Dead and The 13th Warrior in an advanced comp class focused on book-to-film adaptations) and it bothered me when people called it boring. There are arms getting ripped off and dragons being slain, that is not boring at all to me.

My Western Lit prof did a great job of emphasizing that the narrative, while recorded by a Christian monk, is an older tale from a Germanic tribal society whose cultural values don’t always mesh with modern perceptions of Christian virtues. When Beowulf lists off all the things he’s accomplished, that’s not “bragging” or “being full of himself”: that’s his resume. If he doesn’t tell it, how is Hrothgar to know that the guy who just showed up is actually a qualified problem-solver? (This is also a big part of my massive dislike for the narrative choices that the CGI Beowulf movie made.)

Brit lit was mostly full of people who didn’t try to “get” the story.