The first fifth of the Beowulf translation is complete, and further revisions are being made to the rest as we speak. Yes, it will take a long time, if I continue to go at the pace of my faculty reading group, but they’re suggestions are so helpful and the process of preparing my words for that audience that I feel it is worth the slower pace. Heaney took twenty years to get his translation right, I can give it a few years of my own.

Looking backwards & forwards, I’m starting to believe that this translation compares favorably with both Heaney and Liuzza, certainly more faithful than Chickering. I’m getting lots of good encouragement about the strength of my work here and I am working diligently to make sure that what comes next lives up to the promise of the first 700 lines or so.