Translating early medieval poetry: transformation, reception, interpretation

Description

The first decades of the twenty-first century have seen an unprecedented level of creative engagement with early medieval literature, ranging from the long-awaited publication of Tolkien's version of Beowulf and the reworking of medieval lyrics by Ireland's foremost poets to the adaptation of Eddic and Skaldic poetry for the screen. This collection brings together scholars and accomplished translators working with Old English, Old Norse and Medieval Irish poetry, to take stock of this extraordinary proliferation of translation activity and to suggest new ways in which to approach these three dynamic literary traditions. The essays in this collection include critical surveys of texts and traditions to the present day, assessments of the practice and impact of individual translators from Jorge Luis Borges to Seamus Heaney, and reflections on the particular challenges of translating poetic forms and vocabulary into different languages and media. Together they present a series of informed and at times provocative perspectives on what it means to "carry across" early medieval poetry in our contemporary cultural climate Introduction: From Eald to NewFrom Eald Old to New Old: Translating Old English Poetry in(to) the Twenty-first CenturyEdwin Morgan's Translations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: Turning Eald into New in English and ScotsGains and Losses in Translating Old English Poetry into Modern English and RussianBorges, Old English Poetry, and Translation Studies"Let Beowulf now be a book from Ireland": What Would Henryson or Tolkien Say?The Forms and Functions of Medieval Irish Poetry and the Limitations of Modern AestheticsAislinge Meic Conglinne: Challenges for Translator and AudienceTranslating Find and the Phantoms into Modern IrishReawakening Angantyr: English Translations of an Old Norse Poem from the Eighteenth Century to the Twenty-FirstTranslating and Retranslating the Poetic EddaFrom Heroic Lay to Victorian Novel: Old Norse Poetry about Brynhildr and Thomas Hardy's The Return of the NativeMichael Hirst's Vikings and Old Norse PoetryAfterwordBibliographyA Translation of Riddle 15 from the Exeter Book