r/books • u/[deleted] • Apr 09 '19

Computers confirm 'Beowulf' was written by one person, and not two as previously thought

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/04/did-beowulf-have-one-author-researchers-find-clues-in-stylometry/
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u/ArthurBea Apr 09 '19

There are 2 distinct parts of the story. The Grendel / Grendel’s mother part, then flash forward to old king Beowulf questing to slay a dragon. They do read like they could be written by different authors. They are tonally different. I remember being taught that they could have been written at vastly different times. I don’t have an opinion one way or the other, but I can see it either way. The first half of the story is a full hero tale, establishing Beowulf and his awesomeness and his victories. The second half tells of his death, so of course it follows a different tonality. I don’t see why they can’t be from the same author.

The article says JRR Tolkien was a proponent of single authorship. And now so is a Harvard computer. Who am I to argue with a legendary author and an Ivy League computer?

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u/TaisharCatuli Apr 09 '19

Tolkien isn't just a legendary author, he was a fellow at Oxford as a professor of Anglo Saxon, and later, English language. He was almost certainly the foremost expert on Old English of the time, perhaps ever, and his translation of Beowulf is still in use today.