Translating the past: an analysis of Beowulf's reception history through the figures of Grendel and Grendel's mother

Simple item page
dc.check.date10000-01-01
dc.check.embargoformatApply the embargo to both hard bound copy and e-thesis (If you have submitted an e-thesis and a hard bound thesis and want to embargo both)en
dc.check.entireThesisEntire Thesis Restricted
dc.check.infoIndefiniteen
dc.check.opt-outYesen
dc.check.reasonThis thesis contains third party copyrighted materials for which permission was not given for online useen
dc.contributor.advisorBirkett, Thomasen
dc.contributor.advisorMurphy, Orlaen
dc.contributor.authorKillilea, Alison Elizabeth
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-26T12:17:18Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.date.submitted2018
dc.description.abstractSince the nineteenth century, Beowulf has received sustained critical attention in the form of scholarship, translation, and adaptation. The figures of Grendel and Grendel’s mother have been presented to us in various forms throughout the last two hundred years, ranging from demonic ogres and witches (in H. E. Marshall’s Stories of Beowulf Told to the Children) to misunderstood and emotionally complex beings (in Parke Godwin’s The Tower of Beowulf). This thesis argues that there is no understanding or perception of Grendel and Grendel’s mother, by either scholars or general readers alike, that has not been intricately shaped by the images and language of these “rewritings”, to use André Lefevere’s term. As with all translations and adaptations, these rewritings are “haunted at all times by their adapted texts” (Hutcheon 6), but, as I argue in this study, they are also haunted by any number of adapted texts (and intertexts) which have preceded them. They are not texts in the second degree, as Linda Hutcheon claims, but rather texts in the nth degree, created and received in relation to any number of prior texts, in variations as diverse as their readers. Beginning with an analysis of numerous Old English terms and contextual information used to describe Grendel and Grendel’s mother, the first chapter of this thesis reconsiders how an Anglo-Saxon audience may have understood the Grendel-kin. By employing a philological and comparative linguistic approach to these descriptive terms, this chapter attempts to form as objective as possible an understanding of these characters, an imperative process if we are to critically examine translations of the text. My research also explores the effects of cultural context on translations and adaptations of Beowulf, recognising them as products of a particular time and space in society. Monstrous figures reflect back to us our own cultural fears, anxieties, and desires, and it is through the various receptions, variations, and constructions of Grendel and Grendel’s mother that these concerns can be best identified.en
dc.description.statusNot peer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Version
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationKillilea, A. E. 2018. Translating the past: an analysis of Beowulf's reception history through the figures of Grendel and Grendel's mother. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/6911
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherUniversity College Corken
dc.rights© 2018, Alison Elizabeth Killilea.en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/en
dc.subjectOld Englishen
dc.subjectBeowulfen
dc.subjectReception historyen
dc.subjectTranslationen
dc.subjectAdaptationen
dc.thesis.opt-outtrue
dc.titleTranslating the past: an analysis of Beowulf's reception history through the figures of Grendel and Grendel's motheren
dc.typeDoctoral thesisen
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen
dc.type.qualificationnamePhDen
Files
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
5.62 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Alison Killilea.pdf
Size:
140.94 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Opt-out form
Collections
Doctoral Theses
College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences - Doctoral Theses
English - Doctoral Theses