Medieval Murders

I've just finished the second of Karen Maitland's medieval-set novels, 'The Owl Killers', the first being 'Company of Liars'. Both very enjoyable reads, especially if one is revising for FHS and needs a break that disguises itself as extra revision. 'The Owl Killers' is centred around a beguinage in rural Norfolk. The beguines find themselves the focus of suspicion and hostility, fomented by the local priest who believes that they are concealing a holy relic which protects them from the disease and floods that ravage the village. 'Company of Liars' is very loosely based on the Canterbury Tales; here a motley group of companions attempts to out-manoeuvre both the Black Death, and the dangerous forces that stalk them. The books have in common an unromanticised depiction of the hardships of life in the 14th century, containing scenes of harsh suffering and torture, and definitely worth a look. Maitland is in the process of writing two more medieval books for for penguin, and I look forward to them. You can find out more about her on her website:
http://www.karenmaitland.com/

More monsters and Beowulf

Continuing my earlier theme... I then began to muse upon the various film versions of Beowulf, remembering with particular affection 'Grendel, Grendel, Grendel', an Australian animation in the visual style of Henry's Cat, or Roobarb and Custard, and based on John Gardner's novel 'Grendel'. Here, Peter Ustinov provides the (unexpectedly dulcet) voice of Grendel, who has a strange relationship with the Dragon. Beowulf and his men are portrayed as upper-class Englishmen of a certain type, who bowl into Heorot offering to help in tones that recall the BBC newsreaders of WWII. Hrothgar and his men, conversely, are more like extras from Emmerdale. Anyway, this version which casts Grendel as 'misunderstood and loveable' is nigh on impossible to obtain, but I found this link on youtube to one of the scenes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKw5dB1ZqqE
in which a vaguely Boethian dragon explains, in song, to Grendel why he is so hated. And from here, in the video description, you can link to another website where you can watch the whole cartoon (about 1 hour). There's a short introduction from one of the directors, in which he explains the 20th-century distrust of military action that influences their presentation, and then the film starts. I STRONGLY urge you to watch at least the first five minutes, if only to experience the wondrous title song, 'Grendel, your mother loves you'.

Monsters in Beowulf

As usual, the essay topic 'Monsters in Beowulf' was a popular choice, and after the tutorial discussions I was musing on the subject of Grendel and Grendel's mother and their general 'monstrosity', and how that's often interpreted by modern audiences. The recent Zemeckis film is a case in point, where Grendel is presented as a humanoid figure, and the aural torture he suffers at the hands of the noisy and inconsiderate inhabitants of Heorot is designed to ensure that we, the audience, feel some sympathy - or at least understand - his behaviour. Similarly, his mother is perhaps not like other women in that she's a golden version of Angelina Jolie, but once again, she is not presented to us in a visually monstrous incarnation, and is given the opportunity to express her grief at the loss of her child. While this nods to the complexity of the original poem, at the same time it seems to speak to the modern concern with motive, with the distaste for presenting evil as simply evil, but rather as something that can be explained or given a rationale. But I wonder how far a contemporary audience would necessarily have had similar sympathies? Would they, like the sculptors I discovered in my searching of the dark hinterlands of the web here http://www.grendelsmother.org/, have felt sorry for poor old Grendel's mother for being nameless? How far are we imposing modern expectations and interpretations on the monsters of the poem?

A medieval radio station. Online.

Here is a link to an interesting new aural discovery: an internet radio station that plays medieval and renaissance music all the time. http://www.ancientfm.com/ It's more relaxing than you might expect. The tinny inadequacy of my computer's speakers simply add to the verisimilitude. It's almost like being in Heorot.

RSC Morte Darthur

The RSC is staging a production of Malory's Morte Darthur from 11 June - 28 August 2010. You can book tickets on the RSC site here http://www.rsc.org.uk/whatson/8960.aspx
The adaptation is by Mike Poulton, who also scripted their version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales a few years ago (the script is available to buy http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canterbury-Tales-Royal-Shakespeare-Company/dp/185459883X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268926787&sr=8-1). That was an excellent production, which didn't over-simplify the Tales and stayed true to the spirit of the original as far as possible. It was split into two separate performances. I suspect that the Morte Darthur will have to be heavily edited and abridged for it to work successfully, both in terms of the expectations of a modern audience (coherence and consistency) and in terms of time constraints. I wonder what will go? I expect that sections of 'Tristram' and the 'Sankgreal' might be sacrificed, possibly even the 'Gareth', but I hope that the focus isn't too concentrated on Launcelot and Guenevere - there are other aspects of Malory's text that I think are far more intriguing...

Welcome to the Merton Medieval Blog!

Hello! This is the first post for the new blog for the study of Old and Middle English (and sometimes the English Language...) at Merton College, Oxford. Things you will find here: general discussion of aspects of the Old and Middle English courses (Mods and FHS I and II) at Oxford, advertising of relevant events in Merton, Oxford, and elsewhere, links to interesting articles, websites, conferences, modern responses to medieval literature, and anything else that might be of interest.