Tolkien's Beowulf to be published!

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

The cashing in accusation is really quite ludicrous. Had he wanted to cash in it would have been infintessimally easier to sign a few licensing agreements rather than forty years with boxfuls of chaotic manuscripts - not to mention more lucrative.

Indeed, and people who make these accusations also seem to fail to recognise that there are those of us who are actually interested in reading this material. Ought it to never see the light of day?

This publication is actually extremely timely for me, as a chapter of my PhD thesis, which I am to complete this year, looks at certain ideas present in Old English texts which I argue are reflected in Professor Tolkien's work. I realise that the connections between the Anglo-Saxon world and Middle-earth have been examined before, but I am actually dealing with very specific notions of an as yet unexplored nature that I'd rather avoid discussing anonymously online. Being able to reinforce my work on Beowulf with Professor Tolkien's own translation will be extremely useful.