Beowulf

Gone Medieval

History Hit

History

4.6 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2023

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Composed towards the end of the first millennium, Beowulf is the classic Anglo-Saxon epic poem that transcends its time to shed light on psychological and spiritual truths that still ring true today.

Seamus Heaney’s deeply felt interpretation - widely acknowledged as the greatest Beowulf translation of modern times - has just been published in a fabulous Folio limited edition with an exclusive introduction by bestselling historian Janina Ramirez. She joins Matt Lewis in this episode of Gone Medieval to take a deep dive into Beowulf.

This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Gone Medieval from History Hit.
0:02.6	To listen to all of our episodes, add free and watch hundreds of history documentaries
0:06.8	download the History Hit app or go to historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:12.4	And if you're an Apple listener, you can subscribe for new add free episodes within the app.
0:23.4	Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval, I'm Matt Lewis.
0:26.2	Baewulf is one of the most famous and arguably the most important pieces of early medieval literature.
0:32.0	Even the fact that it survives is a tale of fighting against the odds to be preserved
0:36.4	for future generations.
0:38.1	Sheamus Heaney's translation from the old English is considered a work that has
0:41.1	breathed new life into this old story and allowed it to be engaged with by generations
0:45.8	more just as those early medieval storytellers must have intended it to be.
0:50.0	The Folio Society has released a beautiful new edition of Sheamus Heaney's translation
0:54.1	to adore your bookshelf and to fill your mind.
0:57.2	And my guest today has written the introduction for the new edition.
1:00.3	Dr. Janina Ramirez is a lecturer and course director at the University of Oxford, author
1:04.7	of Feminer, which hopefully she's going to come back to and talk to us about very soon.
1:09.0	And one of the finest cultural historians and broadcasters in history land today.
1:12.4	So I'm delighted to welcome Janina to Gone Medieval to talk all things Baewulf.
1:16.3	Thank you very much for joining us Janina.
1:24.5	Gosh, Matt, what a glorious introduction I'm honoured to be with you.
1:29.0	Thank you.
1:30.0	It's just my way of trying to tempt you back to talk about Feminer in future.
	...

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