Chris Vinsonhaler

Thirty years ago I began reading Beowulf through the lens of bardic performance. That's when the poem cracked open: beneath the surface of heroic praise, a tragic and darkly comic critique of heroic ideology—the heroes themselves emerging as monsters, Beowulf the most insidious of them all.

Since that first reckoning, I have deepened my understanding of this magisterial work with support from a fellowship funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, a doctoral stipend from the University of Iowa, a CUNY Faculty Development Grant, and the encouragement and feedback of supporters and colleagues. This book represents the first in a series of presentations, adaptations, and performances designed to bring readers into the poem’s extraordinary enigmatic design.

For more information, please visit the project website (BEOWULF dot LIVE).