Michael Drout, an assistant professor of English at Wheaton College, has discovered the manuscript of a complete translation of Beowulf, with commentary, by J.R.R. Tolkien. It will be published this summer and will presumably sell quite a few copies. [Via Pat.]
Addendum. Having now discovered Drout's blog (via Mind-Numbing), I must retract the last statement; apparently the translation won't be published this year, as can be seen from this entry (from an increasingly exasperated series):
First, though the Sunday Times calls it a "discovery," I'm a little uncomfortable with the term, since the material was right there in the Bodleian the whole time. The Bodleian's librarians and Christopher Tolkien certainly knew what it was. Second, there is almost no way I can see the Beowulf translations being published in 2003. While I've already done a lot of work on the translations (and they are pretty "clean" manuscripts, anyway), I really have to finish the volume of commentaries before I can publish the translations, since the commentaries explain the translations and I need to be clear in my own mind about Tolkien's intent before I make major editing decisions. I think I unintentionally confused the reporter when I said that I would probably be done with the translations at the end of the summer. That's true as far as it goes, but being done won't be enough, unfortunately.Posted by languagehat at January 2, 2003 11:09 AMAll that said, the Beowulf translation is great and lovers of Tolkien will love it.
I have always had a respect for Tolkien as a historian, mythologist and linguist. The translation is excellent.
Posted by: Tolkien at March 17, 2004 12:03 PMAh, quit patting yourself on the back.
But I'm glad you commented, because it reminded me of the Tolkien/Beowulf story, and I started wondering: what ever became of it? I went to Drout's blog and skimmed the entire last year (not that hard, because his posting is quite erratic) and didn't see a single mention of it. I googled "tolkien translation of beowulf" and got nothing but year-old material (including, of course, this LH post). Was it the MS equivalent of vaporware? Very odd.
Posted by: language hat at March 17, 2004 03:09 PMSo... is there a publication date yet?
Posted by: bert at September 29, 2005 08:39 PMDoes anyone know where I can find a copy of this translation?
Posted by: Andrea at October 6, 2005 10:40 PMI'm actually more interested in his commentaries - it says that'll be published first anyhow. Any word on that yet?
Posted by: kerrigwen at October 19, 2005 11:45 PMOh...I've found something that seems to have been written at a later date by Michael Drout:
"I am currently in the process of editing Tolkien's unpublished translation of Beowulf. There is a partial verse translation (600) lines, and a complete prose translation. Despite what various reporters have been saying, I think it is highly doubtful that the translation will be ready for publication before 2004.
The current plan is to print the translations synoptically for the first 600 lines (verse on the left, prose on the right) and then continue with the prose translation to the end. Notes will be fairly limited in this volume, but I will point out Tolkien's solution of major cruces, etc.
There will then follow a companion volume to the translation that will be based on Tolkien's enormously detailed line-by-line commentaries. This will be a book that will probably appeal only to Beowulf scholars, since I intend to follow Tolkien's line by line approach to the poem, supplementing, where useful, with some of his other essays about Beowulf. I don't think this volume will be ready until 2005. "
Hope it helps? 2005 aint exactly over yet :p
Posted by: kerrigwen at October 20, 2005 12:16 AMNo news yet? Come on, the crowd is waiting. Will this commentary consist of entirely new unpublished material? Did JRRT mean it to be published somewhere? Where? And why wasn't it published?
Posted by: Andrew at February 27, 2006 05:17 PM2006 fades; how long until this book emerges from beneath the pen and press?
Posted by: Casey Goranson at October 26, 2006 08:49 PMI do not think I am disclosing a confidence but in May 2005, I found out the following by correspondence, from Professor Drout:
"Unfortunately, the Tolkien Estate has decided to stop going forward with that project for the forseeable future. I am hopeful that things will change, but I don't know when that might happen."
Also, his commentary on the translations "Beowulf and the Critics" ISBN 0866982906 was released some time ago.
Posted by: Michael at November 11, 2006 02:19 AMThanks, Michael. That's unfortunate, but at least now we know what's going on.
Posted by: language hat at November 11, 2006 08:22 AM