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The Heroic AgeIssue 6Summer 2003 |
Web Reviews
by Renée R. Trilling,
University of Notre Dame
Beowulf in Hypertext
http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/
This teaching site, created by Anne Savage of McMaster University, offers a useful format for comparing the text of Beowulf in both Old and Modern English. The poem is presented in screens comprising individual fitts, with a summary of each section along the side and the option to "Translate" at the bottom of each screen. In addition to the text of the poem, this site offers some explanatory notes to the Modern English translation, comprehensive information on characters and places, and manuscript history, as well as a brief introduction to some of the poem's most well-known critical themes: history vs. myth, orality vs. literacy, and the ongoing search for common ground between medieval and modern. It serves as a good introduction for beginning students of Beowulf or for those unfamiliar with, but interested in, the poem's original language.
Beowulf on Steorarume
http://www.heorot.dk/
Benjamin Slade's Beowulf on Steorarume (Beowulf in Cyberspace) offers an online critical edition of the poem in an easy-to-navigate format with extensive bibliography, detailed introductory material, and educational tools such as glossaries and pictures. From the diplomatic edition, which Slade describes as "conservative," users can access a comprehensive critical apparatus detailing the poem's editorial history. The site also offers translations in both English and German; the English translation even provides links to audio clips of the poem being read aloud. Slade has plans to expand the site to include 8 further sections of introductory material as well as online editions of related texts, such as Widsið and the Finnsburh Fragment.
http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/research/rawl/wulf/
Part of Western Michigan University's Old English Editions Online, Michael Donald Livingston's new online edition of Wulf and Eadwacer offers a creative presentation of this notoriously ambiguous text. The textual apparatus and commentary are easily accessible from any point in the text, and this interactive format allows users to make their own critical and interpretive decisions about the poem. In addition to the edited text, users can view a transcription of the poem, a chronology of the many and varied interpretations put forth by scholars, a history of scholarship and a sample close reading of the poem, as well as links to information on the Exeter Book and its forthcoming facsimile from the University of Exeter Press. This site is an excellent example of how web technology can can offer new directions for both the study and teaching of medieval literature.
The web site of the
Sutton Hoo Society encourages visitors to take advantage of the
many educational opportunities of Sutton Hoo. It offers a chronology
of the archaeological excavations and an interactive tour which
allows the user to click on a photo of the site to reveal the
findings at each individual site. The Society also offers informational
packages and links for teachers as well as notice about upcoming
events and conferences.
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