This month, I'd like to get deeper into a few aspects of the weirdness, magic, and heroism in this excellent thousand-year-old tale.īut before that, I'd like to address a quick point: what, after all (one might ask), is this Anglo-Saxon epic doing in an SF magazine in the first place? That's because Beowulf-like so many of the old stories that I've written about here, and hope to write about in future-is not only a cornerstone of the English literary tradition, but also a rollicking tale full of monsters, heroes, and magic.
If you read March's column, you'll remember that we covered a bit of the story's background-remember the Nowell codex, and the Migration Age? We also looked into the background of the story's first big-name monster, Grendel, who is mysteriously linked to the cursed descendants of Cain as well as elves and ogres, and has been roaming the fens of Iron Age Scandinavia and killing warriors in their sleep. Welcome back to the discussion of what's fantastic in everyone's favorite Anglo-Saxon monster story, Beowulf.
0 kommentar(er)
