A Critical Companion to 'Beowulf' by Andy Orchard (review)

Abstract

MLR, 99.3, 2004 731 will be surprised at how relatively little time is spent on it. The chapter on Solo fiir Klarinette makes scant reference to the misleading claim of 'total nudity' with its suggestion of an FKK setting, but concentrates on the scriptwriter's deviations from the source, Elsa Lewin's complex, downbeat novel I, Anna. Neuhaus concludes that Hofmann rejects Lewin's 'lament for a corrupt world' in favour of 'a positive counter-image', though whether this should be read as the triumph of celluloid over paper remains in doubt. Solo fiir Klarinette can claim a dynamic of its own which places it in the company of such bleak masterpieces as Seven, and greater fidelity to the original might actually have worked in its favour. Given the number of erotic movies produced for German consumption, it is sur? prising that the remaining examples of the genre come from other countries, notably from Hollywood. The one French specimen is Just Jaeckin's Histoire d'O, here re? ferred to as Geschichte der O, and co-editor Oliver Jahraus, although not eschewing comparisons with the book, is willing to engage with the moral import of what is often seen as a degrading example of visual Viagra. Self-knowledge through pain, the central experience of Jaeckin's heroine, places her in close proximity to her nearnamesake in Kleist's novella. Eric Rohmer's film of the 'other O' may have been insufficientlyerotic to merit inclusion here, but I did wonder at the credentials of Ralph Bakshi's Fritz the Cat. This was the firstfull-length cartoon to be given an 'X' rating in Britain and the United States (albeit in 1972), but quite how the philandering of a crudely drawn cat and some raunchy crows can be seen as erotic I do not know. This potentially vexatious issue is left to one side by Hans-Edwin Friedrich, who concedes that the graphics are far from explicit ('es gibt keine insertion shotsy)before discussing the furore that the filmprovoked, not least for the author of the 'cult' comic from which the eponymous feline had originated. Erotic aspects come into their own in Neuhaus's sensitive comparison of the two versions of Lolita, both of which in their differentways are studiously unerotic por? trayals of an erotically charged, not to say frenzied, obsession. And Jahraus (yes, the editors are responsible for around fiftyper cent of the content) returns to the print vs. film debate in a chapter on Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. While determined not to pronounce on relative merits, he seems more interested in contrasting the two media than in showing how eros is conveyed by the moving image. There are some fifteenscreen-shots in the book, most of them unattributed and, curiously, uncaptioned. The above-mentioned poster forSolo fiir Klarinette was photographed forpublicity purposes in a studio and not taken fromthe film. It is a fitting image fora genre that has been known to promise more than it delivers. The volume will have succeeded if it stimulates discussion of this point. It is well produced, affordable , and will be prized by readers interested in the complex relationship between text and image. May the series prosper. University of Kent Osman Durrani A Critical Companion to'Beozvulf'. By Andy Orchard. Cambridge: Brewer. 2003. xix + 396pp. ?45; $75- ISBN 0-85991-766-5. Scholarship on Beowulf is a robust growth industry,yet the list of indispensable works remains short: an edition (F. Klaeber, Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburh, 3rd edn (Boston: Heath, 1950), remains standard afterhalf a century) and facsimile (the Elec? tronicBeowulf produced by Kevin Kiernan and Andrew Prescott on CD-ROM (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000)), one or two studies of the poem's metre, a few anthologies of essays, three or four book-length studies, some photocopies of 732 Reviews shorter essays, and most recently the 1997 Beowulf Handbook edited by Robert Bjork and John Niles (Exeter: University of Exeter Press). Andy Orchard's new book earns a place among these works: sensibly organized, elegantly written, and thoroughly referenced, it is both learned and accessible, inviting for students and often humor? ous, but insightful enough to...