BRO

I have been re-reading Beowulf. The new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley is fantastic. It livens up the language in unexpected ways and breathes new life into the story. All you really need to know is how she starts it:

"Bro! Tell me we still know how to
talk about kings! In the old days,
everyone knew what men were:
brave, bold, glory-bound. Only
stories now, but I'll sound the
Spear-Danes' song, hoarded for
hungry times."

That's right. Out of the gate, she plants her flag by making the eponymous arm-ripper kind of a bro. This is a tale of lunkheaded masculinity; muscular and manly. Beowulf might as well wear his oakleys on the back of his neck, and a backwards baseball cap. There is boasting and showing off that wouldn't be out of place in a modern frat house; which is basically what Heorot was supposed to be.

And yet... there's a real lived in quality to the way she recasts the dialogue into barroom rap battles. This Beowulf feels a little sadder than he comes across in other translations. Some reviews describe this is a feminist take on the source material. They're not wrong, especially with the emphasis given to Grendel's mother, but there seems to be a real pathos given to the concerns of these men and they way they chose to live and to die.

In any case, it's a quick read and it really pops.