Beowulf Audiobook By Michael Alexander, uncredited, Michael Alexander - introduction, Michael Alexander - translator cover art

Beowulf

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Beowulf

By: Michael Alexander, uncredited, Michael Alexander - introduction, Michael Alexander - translator
Narrated by: Royce Pierreson, Roy McMillan
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Brought to you by Penguin.

This Penguin Classic is performed by Royce Pierreson, star of Line of Duty, Our Girl and The Witcher. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Michael Alexander.

Beowulf is the greatest surviving work of literature in Old English, unparalleled in its epic grandeur and scope. It tells the story of the heroic Beowulf and of his battles, first with the monster Grendel, who has laid waste to the great hall of the Danish king Hrothgar, then with Grendel's avenging mother, and finally with a dragon that threatens to devastate his homeland. Through its blend of myth and history, Beowulf vividly evokes a twilight world in which men and supernatural forces live side by side. And it celebrates the endurance of the human spirit in a transient world.

"Alexander's translation is marked by a conviction that it is possible to be both ambitious and faithful [and] ...communicates the poem with a care which goes beyond fidelity-to-meaning and reaches fidelity of implication. May it go on ... to another half-million copies." - Tom Shippey, Bulletin of the International Association of University Professors of English

© Michael Alexander 2003 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Accolades & Awards

Hugo Award
2021
Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature Drama & Plays Epic European Hugo Award Shakespeare Themes & Styles World Literature Poetry

Critic reviews

Michael Alexander is much the best translator from Old English. His Penguin Beowulf is much to be recommended (A.N. Wilson)
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Beowulf is a true classic worth hearing from the epics of norse and saxon writings.
This translation is a marvelous achievemnt and the narration is superb.
A truly phenomenal experience.

beowulf a classical masterpiece

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Of all the translations that are available, my favorite remains the one by Stephen Mitchell. But the audio version of Mitchell’s translation is marred by a weak reading, courtesy of Mitchell himself, who simply doesn’t have the voice for it. Royce Pierreson does have the voice for it, and he does a fine job with Michael Alexander’s (also) excellent translation.

The language is somewhat heightened —dignified, like the story itself — but not in any way archaic or obscure. (One exception: to capture the flavor of Old English, Alexander does, like many translators, preserve some of the kennings of the original: for instance, calling the ocean “the whale-road” or describing Beowulf as “unlocking his word-hoard” when he’s about to speak. (I can’t think of a single translation of the poem that doesn’t keep that last one.) On the whole it goes down smoothly, and the tragic end of the poem comes across with the sadness of an ice-bound ship.

And as always with the Penguin titles, the introduction — here read by Roy McMillan — adds considerable value to the audiobook. The introductions have always been one of the highlights of the Penguin classics, and it was a smart marketing decision to include them.

Excellent translation and reading

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Wonderful reading. Great story. This was my first listen of Beowulf and I thoroughly enjoyed everything about my experience. I highly recommend this audiobook.

Great, faithful rendition!

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Nice translation, and the narrator does a good job of pronouncing hard words, but this performance ultimately lacks some of the poetry that the original author spent so much time to convey

Good translation, lacking performance

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The same issue that the Norse Eddas suffer from are seen here which is a Christian rewrite with lots of Christian theology added to a story that originally had none of these things. I can acknowledge the author tried his best in an attempt to balance poetry and prose but in the modern world an entertaining story trumps accuracy any day of the week. The accurate Norse Eddas are a slog to get through and the narrative devices used are antiquated. Think of how much the stories of the Norse Gods have been adapted and then consider how well the story of Beowulf has been told: abridged versions abound and so many of them are just beautiful works of art. Why not have both? it's understandable to have an academic scholarly version but telling a great entertaining story with character development, dialogue and imagery are far more entertaining. This was not a fun book to listen to and the narrator didn't bother to use different voices for the characters either. He read it in a straight monotone voice which did absolutely no favors for this translation. This is an accurate Beowulf tranlafion but it hurts the story and I found Seamus Heaney's translation to be far more entertaining.

Accurate scholarly translation with all the Christian nonsense maintained.

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