Record Number: 32408

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'... remember that nearly all your reading is confined to about 150 years of one particular country.... And so, if you suddenly go back to an Anglo-Saxon gleeman's lay, you come up against something absolutely different — a different world. If you are to enjoy it, you must forget your previous ideas of what a book should be and try and put yourself back in the position of the people for whom it was first made. When I was reading it I tried to imagine myself as an old Saxon thane sitting in my hall of a winter's night, with the wolves & storm outside and the old fellow singing his story. In this way you get the atmosphere of terror that runs through it — the horror of the old barbarous days when the land was all forests and when you thought that a demon might come to your house any night & carry you off. The description of Grendel stalking up from his "fen and fastness" thrilled me. Besides, I loved the simplicity of the old life it represents: it comes as a relief to get away from all complications about characters & "problems" to a time when hunting, fighting, eating, drinking & loving were all a man had to think of it. And lastly, always remember it's a translation which spoils most things.'

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

Between 1 Apr 1914 and 31 Oct 1916

Country:

Northern Ireland

Time

n/a

Place:

Belfast
County Down
'Little Lea', 76 Circular Rd

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Clive Staples Lewis

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

29 Nov 1898

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Student

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

Northern Ireland

Country of Experience:

Northern Ireland

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

[Anon] [Anon]

Title:

Beowulf

Genre:

Poetry, Prose translation from the Old English heroic-elegaic poem

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

The Story of Beowulf Translated from Anglo-Saxon into modern English prose by Ernest J. B. Kirtlan. London: Charles H. Kelly, 1913

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

32408

Source:

Print

Author:

C. S. Lewis

Editor:

Walter Hooper

Title:

C. S. Lewis Collected Letters

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

2000

Vol:

1

Page:

244-5

Additional Comments:

From a letter to Arthur Greeves, 1 November 1916

Citation:

C. S. Lewis, Walter Hooper (ed.), C. S. Lewis Collected Letters, (London, 2000), 1, p. 244-5, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=32408, accessed: 19 May 2025

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Additional Comments:

In an earlier letter to Greeves (6 June 1916) Lewis writes that 'Beowulf' has been '"the next book I'll get" ever since you have known me.' (Letters, v.1, p. 189) This is why the date range begins with their first meeting. In a much later letter to him (26 June 1927) he remarks that his copy of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' is 'a companion volume to my translation of Beowulf.' (Letters, v.1, p.701) At some point in time, therefore, he did acquire a copy of 'Beowulf'. In a footnote to another letter to Greeves, Hooper gives the edition of 'Sir Gawain' as Ernest Kirtlan's translation, published by Charles H Kelly in 1912. This is why I have assumed that, in describing this reading experience, Lewis was remembering Kirtlan's 'Beowulf'. If so, he may well have been reading his own copy, which means that the date range should be shortened and the provenance changed from 'unknown'.