Translations of Beowulf in Spain during the seventies and the eighties: “Would you rather have me ugly and faithful or beautiful and unfaithful?”

Abstract

This paper reviews three translations of Beowulf published in Spain in the seventies and the eighties. During this period, the poem achieves academic status, in the sense that it becomes a topic of research for Spanish Anglists. Meanwhile, medieval English studies in Spain gradually find a place in European scholarship. Issued by well established publishers, Lerate’s verse Beowulf (1974 & 1986) soon became – and is still nowadays– the best known Spanish rendering of the poem. On the other hand, Bravo’s prose translation (1981) is a pioneer work of genuine Old English scholarship in Spain.