Beowulf

Name: Beowulf
Author: Maria Dahvana Headley
ISBN: 9780374110031

Maria Dahvana Headley

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Beowulf

Maria Dahvana Headley

awards won

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#5500 of 8,085 books · #1002 in Fantasy

Shortlisted for the Locus Award for Best Horror Novel (2021).

Headley provides a radical new verse translation of the epic poem. She brings to light elements that have never before been translated into English, recontextualizing the binary narrative of monsters and heroes into a tale in which the two categories often entwine, justice is rarely served, and dragons live among us. The familiar elements of the epic poem are seen with a novelist's eye toward gender, genre, and history, unearthing significant shifts in the epic poem that have been lost over centuries of translation. A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. The familiar elements of the epic poem are seen with a novelist's eye toward gender, genre, and history—Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment, powerful men seeking to become more powerful, and one woman seeking justice for her child, but this version brings new context to an old story.

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