Thursday November 17th at 7:00 pm

Wrestling with Beowulf in the Library, Part 2 – with Francelia Clark & Sebastian Lockwood

Translating onward with A Storyteller’s Beowulf since our May report, we have moved two days in the epic’s time, but a thousand lines in the telling. There’s more to learn and share from our intimate experience of this Old English epic of approximately the year 1000 A.D. The hero has just won his second battle, told in galloping poetic lines. He has in this battle also survived what the Icelandic saga tellers knew as a meeting with the Walking Dead, and the comparisons await our exploration with you. Surrounding this drama are the poet’s descriptive and honorific “teaching lines.” Several of these lines reveal the oldest values that could still appear while Christianity was an overlay on ancient stories. We want to share these uncoverings with you. Francelia Clark, retired scholar, who is in charge of authenticity to the Old English, and professional storyteller Sebastian Lockwood, who is in charge of sounds and quality of telling, sometimes dispute, but most often marvel at what’s in this poem. We’ll read aloud, tell aloud, and welcome questions. Free and open to all.