The Politics of Bawn in Seamus Heaney's Translation of Beowulf

• Published in: ANQ (Lexington, Ky.) Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 160 - 163
• Main Author: Zhu, Chenyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Routledge 03.04.2023; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: Anon (600-1100) (Beowulf and Judith); British & Irish literature; Colonialism; Cultural appropriation; Dialects; English literature; Heaney, Seamus; Irish literature; Linguistics; Literary translation; Medieval literature; Postcolonialism; Text analysis; Translations
• ISSN: 0895-769X; 1940-3364
• DOI: 10.1080/0895769X.2021.1872360

Throughout the translation of Beowulf, the Irish poet Seamus Heaney employs occasional dialectal diction, which has aroused heated debate on the subject of cultural appropriation. While some argue that the dialect misrepresents, and, as part of the project of post-colonialism, mystifies the text, others justify the act by pinpointing the Irish elements in the original text, by placing Beowulf in the ongoing revolution of cultural contexts, or by praising the accuracy and vibrancy of Heaney's diction in relation to his other works. In one recent essay, Daniel Donoghue reflects on this prolonged debate and puts forward the question as to "how much attention words like 'bawn would attract if Heaney himself had not foregrounded them in his introduction" (80). To this day, the dialect issue remains central in the critical literature on Heaney's translation, owing to the great disputes it has already caused rather than to its prominence in the translation. And the fundamental question remains unsettled as to whether the dialect mystifies the text and excludes certain readers.