Alison
Beowulf has an awful lot of formal organization in its lines, not so
much in its structure, it still does not excuse the fact that it is a
boring poem, why you want to write mediocre but competent rewrites of
of a piece of utter tediousness defeats me, I'm allowed to say Beowulf
is crap because I'm English so it's part of my heritage (ha ha) and I
think it sucks.
So does fantasy.
Best
Dave
2008/11/24 Alison Croggon <[log in to unmask]>:
> As Hal Duncan (no mean fantasist himself) put it, the first instance
> of music criticism ever recorded...! I've seen the novel but haven't
> read it. Thanks for the tip, it sounds like some good Christmas
> reading.
>
> If nobody minds, I might post a fitt every couple of days. There's
> rather a lot of them, even in its unfinished state. I'd like to finish
> it, or at least get through the second third, and it might be a way of
> diving into the poem again.
>
> I can't pretend to any deep knowledge of AS, I fear. I only know what
> I've gleaned from reading the standard texts. One thing has made me
> curious - I can't work out any formal reason for the fitts (which I am
> preserving because, like all the poem's lumpiness, I kind of like
> them). They're not any standard length, and can break abruptly, almost
> in the middle of a sentence. Can you throw any light on what the
> formal organisation, if any, might have been?
>
> xA
>
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 6:09 AM, MC Ward <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Hi Alison,
>>
>> You mentioned the lack of a modern-day equivalent of *Beowulf", and I wanted to recommend John Gardner's novel *Grendel* (if you don't already know it). Not only is it frequently hilarious, but is also very insightful about the culture, Gardner himself having been a medievalist, though far better known as a novelist. His overiding insight into Grendel himself is that what drove him mad and caused him to breakfast on a couple of Danish every day was the *singing*, especially as it emanated from a place of light and <<gladness>>, as you put it so well in your second fitt, from which he was forever barred.
>>
>> Candice
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Editor, Masthead: http://www.masthead.net.au
> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com
>
--
David Bircumshaw
Website and A Chide's Alphabet http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
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