Beowulf From Early Anglo-Saxon Text to Hypertext
This paper describes the combined use of Mosaic and the World Wide Web as tools that will both allow scholars and researchers to examine ancient manuscripts without the risk of physical damage to the manuscripts, and facilitate greater general public access to the material. The British Library is currently engaged in a project to establish a full image archive relating to the transmission down the ages of one of the earliest known Anglo-Saxon poems: Beowulf (thought by some to have been written in the eighth century AD, and rife with fighting, slaying and mythical monsters), as part of its commitment to increase access to its collections, by use of digital imaging and networking technology.
Images of parts of the Beowulf manuscript are scanned in 24-bit colour, both under visible and ultraviolet light. These images may be of entire pages, or just single words or letters. The resulting image files are huge: at a maximum size of 2320 by 3072 pixels each image takes up about 20-25 MB, however they can reveal even more information than would physical examination of the original manuscripts, for example allowing the detection of alterations to the manuscripts and revealing letters that have been obscured by repairs to eighteenth century fire damage.
The Library is experimenting with the use of Mosaic and the World Wide Web as a front end to provide initial access to materials in the Library's Reading Rooms in London. Mosaic was chosen as a powerful, simple-to-use interface suitable for users who may not be computer-literate. By use of off-line image preparation, server-side scripts performing on-the-fly image manipulation and caching of images, users are able to search quickly for detail in the images, while the hypertext features of the Web allow cross references to background material to be presented.
Introduction
The British Library is the national library of Great Britain. It has amongst its collection of over 15 million books and other documents, several hundred thousand ancient manuscripts. One of these is a unique copy of the epic poem Beowulf, which tells of the deeds of the eponymous hero, king of the Geats; of his battles with the half-human fiend Grendel and the monster's mother, and ends with his mortal combat with a fiery dragon. The poem is one of the oldest existing Anglo-Saxon poems, having been written down in the early eleventh century AD, but thought by some to have been composed even earlier in the eighth century.
Beowulf is among the earliest surviving works of literature. It was written in Old English and dates back sometime before the tenth century A.D. The poem is set in Scandinavia, and tells the story of the heroic warrior, Beowulf. Beowulf was the perfect hero. He fought for his people and defeated evil with his ability to bring on justice. Three of Beowulf’s traits that serve as evidence of this were his remarkable physical strength, his ability to put the well-being of others before his own well-being, and his courage.
Mario T. Garcia is currently a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The majority, if not all, of his works had to do with Chicanos related topics in different areas. Thanks to his research through his career, he had gain experience and m...
Relating his personal experiences and encounters of being raised as the son of Latino immigrants within the states, readers are presented with realistic and factual accounts of Latino immigration. As a successful and renowned American journalist, Suro’s narrative was a successful, four-part exploration of Latino status, future trajectory, and points of origin. Within “Strangers Among Us”, Suro takes a look at network migration while contrasting African Americans and Latinos. In the second part, Suro analyzes and interprets Latino immigration and the reactions of Americans and other ethnicities. He then analyzes various Latino groups throughout America in six different large cities within the country before finally in part four, identifying immigration policies that he believes will work and be successful within the states. Suro’s narrative successfully analyzes and discusses many issues within Latino Immigration while giving an overview of many different Latino groups and how each group and America deal with this rising
There is not unanimity among Beowulf translators concerning all parts of the text, but there is little divergence from a single, uniform translation of the poem. Herein are discussed some passages which translators might show disagreement about because of the lack of clarity or missing fragments of text or abundance of synonyms or ambiguous referents.
So many languages, so many cultures. So many people, so many minds. One of the hardest things for humans to interpret is language, especially if the language they are interpreting is one they are not primarily familiar to the language they are interpreting. A result of this is a myriad of interpretations, each with their own individual ‘twist’ depending on the translator. This applies immensely when it comes to the ancient but timeles epic poem Beowulf. Beowulf was written in Old English by an unknown author between the centuries of 800 AD and 1000 AD. Year after year, a new translation is made by an author. Each translation is completely different, yet still the same poem. It is tedious for authors to make their translation literal to the original epic, while simultaneously making it understandable, modern, and readable. Many have tried to accomplish this, but personally I find that Seamus Heaney’s translation of the epic accomplishes these goals notably well, keeping the plotlines intact while putting a vastly interesting twist on the aged epic. Heaney’s use of colorful vocabulary creates and understandable and modern translation while still preserving the texts key values and lessons, far preceding many other translations.
Montoya, Margret E. "Masks and Identify," and "Masks and Resistance," in The Latino/a Condition: A Critical Reader New York: New York University Press, 1998.
Just like every individual in the U.S., the desire to provide a better life for their families is a driving force for the Latino population. The Latino immigrants not only face discrimination upon their arrival, but also deal with the emotions of being away from their home country, the security of their families, friends, culture, and traditions. The reception that they experience on arrival is far from welcoming. “The negativity towards immigration, be it warranted or not, is not good for our country. It fuels segregation, racism, prejudice, and discrimination” (Lopez, 2010). Illegal immigration has become such a hot topic for many that even when immigrants arrive legally they are still met with suspicion. I think one of the most offensive titles given to a group of people is illegal “aliens”. These individuals are not aliens; they are human beings with dreams of a better life just like everyone else. Today, Latinos are proud of their culture and heritage and even though they attempt to assimilate into the American culture, through pluralism they are retaining their own, as well. They continue to converse in their native languages within their families, listen to music and watch Spanish television programs. Where in the past the melting pot theory led many to discard their native language and culture in order to fit in, today many are embracing these ideals, which may be a contributing factor in the continued discrimination (Lopez, 2010).
The adoption of the Mexican appearance standard, in future cases referred to as the Latino appearance standard, raises the question of what is Latino appearance. Judicial interpretations of Brignoni-Ponce have never explicitly stated what Latino appearance is. The most likely explanation for this lack of clarity is that courts are wary of judicially defining who is a Latino. If the courts defined what Latino physical appearance is, they could face societal backlash and there is also the problem that the heterogeneous nature of Latinos prevents a precise formulation. Therefore, the question of what is Latino appearance has been left up to government agents in the field. From the actions of these agents it is clear that by Latino appearance the authorities have a specific stereotype in mind. The Border Patrol has interpreted Latino appearance to be synonymous with “dark skin, black hair, brown eyes, and indigenous features, often with a socioeconomic class overlay.” In fact, one profile used by government agents stated that the typical undocumented immigrant will be a: “Mexican male, about 5’5” to 5’8”; dark brown hair; brown eyes; dark complexion; wearing huaraches (foot sandals).” In using these profiles government agents are relying on an incomplete and offensive stereotype of Latino identity.
appearance is to distort the cultural diversity of the community. Aside from the obvious facial differences, there are also significant linguistic and historical differences in the Latino community. The community is so heterogeneous that the idea that government agents can detect a Latino appearance is highly problematic on its face. Even the terms Latino and Hispanic are problematic as they refer to an ethnic and not a racial group. Latinos are conceptualized as a distinct race when they are more of an ethnic group. However, the Brignoni-Ponce line of cases is treating Latinos as if they were a distinct racial group with a specific facial appearance....
The media has being portraying Latinos wrongly for many years. It can be said that this problem has gotten better, but Latinos are still not giving the important/ main roles. However, they have been giving more positive roles like police officers, doctors, teachers, and lawyers. This is not always the case. Latinos are often given the roles of criminals, maids, and gardeners.
What would it be like to wake up everyday knowing you would get bullied, mistreated, and/or abused just because of where you were born? Discrimination still exists! “Discrimination remains and there is an increase in hate crimes against Hispanics, Latinos and Mexican-Americans, as one of the perceived symbols of that discrimination, the U.S.-Mexico Border Fence, nears completion. Instead of pulling together in these difficult times, we may see a greater polarization of attitudes” (Gibson). But why are hate crimes increasing towards Latin and Hispanic aliens and what types of discrimination are occurring against them? Understanding violence towards the Hispanic and Latin alien is divided into three main classes; the difference between legal and illegal aliens, the attacks and effects, and the point of view of different people towards aliens.
To begin with, “race is a social, political, and economic construct. It is not biological. There is no existence of race in the Western world outside of the practices of colonialism, conquest, and the transatlantic slave trade” (Lecture 1). While the origins of race are centered around distinctions of humans based on presumed physical, ancestral or cultural differences, race is merely a floating signifier and therefore only has meaning, but that we give it (Lecture 1 and 2). This floating signifier has taken on different meanings in the U.S. and Latin America. For example, in the U.S., the one-drop rule is enough to deem someone black. On the other hand, Latin America considers pigmentocracy and uses Mulatto categories based on appearance and color
In history, evil men have reigned supreme across many cultures. Some people say that being evil is inherent in every human. If this is true, then writing may be the ultimate way of releasing hatred of the world without hurting anyone. In Beowulf, all of society's evil men can be personified within the demons of Cain. The main demon presented in Beowulf is Grendel. Grendel personifies the exact opposite of what the Anglo-Saxons held dear. Beowulf, the story's hero, is the embodiment of what every Anglo-Saxon strove to become in their lifetime. Grendel is constantly angry, afraid and unsure of himself; while Beowulf is fearless and loyal to his king.
...of Library and Information Sciences, Third Edition (pp. 1507–1517). Taylor & Francis. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1081/E-ELIS3-120043240
Beowulf is the single greatest story of Old English literature and one of the greatest epics of all time. Ironically, no one can lay claim to being the author of this amazing example of literature. The creator of this poem was said to be alive around 600 A.D. and the story was, since then, been passed down orally from generation to generation. When the first English monks heard the story, they took it upon themselves to write it down and add a bit of their own thoughts. Thus, a great epic and the beginning to English literature was born.