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swan_towerJudging by my progress so far tonight, I have not yet found the hole that noveling buried my story mojo in.
That, or having to consult Panlexicon, the OED, or a Latin dictionary -- worse case scenario, all three -- every sentence or so is killing my forward progress.
Probably both.
I should just write the damn story and worry about the language later, but I hear blood vessels rupturing in all the prose-stylist writers of my acquaintance, at the thought that these two things are separable. Really, I should just write the damn story and give up on the stylistic experiment I'm trying to carry out . . . but where's the fun in that?
Can anybody recommend a translation of Beowulf that sounds as much like the original as possible? I don't want accessibility here; I want the linguistic knack I had back when I was translating pages of Old Norse every week, for making my English flow in different patterns. But my Norse is too rusty, and this is supposed to be Anglo-Saxon anyway. Any Anglo-Saxon text would work, I suppose; I just keep turning to Beowulf because it's the only one I know.
That, or having to consult Panlexicon, the OED, or a Latin dictionary -- worse case scenario, all three -- every sentence or so is killing my forward progress.
Probably both.
I should just write the damn story and worry about the language later, but I hear blood vessels rupturing in all the prose-stylist writers of my acquaintance, at the thought that these two things are separable. Really, I should just write the damn story and give up on the stylistic experiment I'm trying to carry out . . . but where's the fun in that?
Can anybody recommend a translation of Beowulf that sounds as much like the original as possible? I don't want accessibility here; I want the linguistic knack I had back when I was translating pages of Old Norse every week, for making my English flow in different patterns. But my Norse is too rusty, and this is supposed to be Anglo-Saxon anyway. Any Anglo-Saxon text would work, I suppose; I just keep turning to Beowulf because it's the only one I know.
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Date: 2008-10-01 07:02 am (UTC)The intro is lengthy...but if you geek on the reasons behind the rhyme in the transliteration of...
(and you do, admit it!)
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Date: 2008-10-01 07:05 am (UTC)Poifect. May not solve any of my problems, but that is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind.
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Date: 2008-10-01 07:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-01 06:13 pm (UTC)As you may know/remember I did my thesis on Beowulf and ran through a LOT of translations, not in whole, but I focused on a few passages. You might have some interest in Slade's.
http://www.heorot.dk/beo-intro-rede.html
As I recall, there's an adherence to something in the diction that I like about his. Not sure about how good he is about adhering to word roots (though he follows your route in the example you picked out).