Beowulf I first heard of in 1st year, in "Introduction to English Literature". We were a group of maybe 200 or 150 students, at least half of which had no idea what they were doing there (anybody can get into college in France, they don't check on anything. Besides, it's very cheap).
When the
teacher -- who is a great medievalist -- started with Beowulf, reading the part about his death in Old English, I heard rumblings of discontent rising. Someone said Old English is not English, so what was the point of all that? I had no friends in college at that time so I didn't exclaim how cool I thought it was, for fear of being hanged there and then by my fellow students. After the lecture, I did spot one student who seemed to think it was great, too. I think she was talking to the teacher, or something.
The exact same thing happened with Thomas More and Utopia. Since it was first published in Latin, rumblings again, "what's the point" again... except I was the one spotted by that other student talking with the teacher after the lecture. Of course, the student was Chloé.
When the
teacher -- who is a great medievalist -- started with Beowulf, reading the part about his death in Old English, I heard rumblings of discontent rising. Someone said Old English is not English, so what was the point of all that? I had no friends in college at that time so I didn't exclaim how cool I thought it was, for fear of being hanged there and then by my fellow students. After the lecture, I did spot one student who seemed to think it was great, too. I think she was talking to the teacher, or something.The exact same thing happened with Thomas More and Utopia. Since it was first published in Latin, rumblings again, "what's the point" again... except I was the one spotted by that other student talking with the teacher after the lecture. Of course, the student was Chloé.
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