How the heck they got Angelina Jolie into Beowulf is beyond me. I struggled through it in Old English in graduate school and was the laughingstock of my class because I am so hopeless with foreign languages that I could make no sense out of it. There must be some academic reason to read this book but I can't think what. The only reason to watch a movie about it would be if they figured out a way to get someone like Angelina Jolie into it in skimpy medieval garb. I hope she's not covered in mud throughout the film. As Monty Python once said, you can tell the peasants from royalty because they are the ones covered in sh$%&t (have to watch my language or they won't accept my posting). You can find me at wozabooks.

Umm...I know it's been three hundred years since I was in college, but wasn't Grendel's mother supposed to be hideously ugly? I mean, one reason why I divorced my ex was because he named his new dog "Grendel", which made me Grendel's mother. Anyway - "Classics for Pleasure" sounds like the way I envisioned college, a pre-Harry Potter vision of Hogwarts for the post-adolescent that did not include panty raids.

Who is the publisher of Dirda's book and what is the pub date?

Sounds like a fascinating read. In the last year I read a couple "classics for pleasure": Twain's "Pudd'nhead Wilson" & Thackeray's masterpiece "Vanity Fair". Both fabulous reads, with the edge going to VF. I read an edition with Thackeray's own illustrations, which add to the pleasure. And I heard recently that Beowulf will be one of the Oscar nominees in the Animated Films category! ?? And Angelina Jolie of course used a body double for the nude scenes. So is it still a cartoon?

Nancy Yanes Hoffman, Dirda's book is out now from Harcourt (further book info available at the link or by clicking on the book jacket image). Charles, "Vanity Fair" is such a gorgeous read; I'm going to seek out an edition with Thackeray's illustrations for the next time I pick it up. Christine, I am still laughing at your pre-Harry Potter vision of Hogwarts... I spent a summer session at an Oxford college years ago and am still miffed that I got a 1960s-era room instead of one surrounded by gargoyles and such. Amy, I promise you that in Old English "Beowulf" has a stately elegaic cadence. However, since those qualities don't translate easily into modern English, I don't know if they will translate to the screen, or not.

A certain liberty with Beowulf is unavoidable, since it wasn't meant to read iin novel form, rather, it was meant to be chanted while drunk out of your mind around a meadhall fire...Tough ambience to recreate these days.