[Clive Watkins]

Dear Alan and Tim

The knowledge that your "Beowulf" has been in the offing for a while now does not, I am certain, dim your pleasure at seeing her come safely to port.

Warm congratulations to both of you!

Clive Watkins

[Terese Coe]

The recital has the lure of authenticity. Good work Alan and Tim!

Terese

[Tim Murphy]

Thanks to all for their kind felicitations. Yes, Volume I., all 3229 pages, whomped onto my desk on Saturday. Problem is, Beowulf only gets 65 pages of miniscule type. Three poets, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton, get more! Who do these upstart latecomers think they are?

[ginger]

Tim,

In which edition of the anthology will you be appearing? I've not yet purchased my books for the semester, but Vol. 1, 2nd ed. is on my list as required text. We will be reading Beowulf. Will I be able to say I know the translators?

Ginger

[Tim Murphy]

Yes Ginger, that's it. It also appears in the much shorter Middle Ages volume.

[Clive Watkins]

Dear Alan and Tim

I shall wait for the stand-alone edition of your "Beowulf" next year: I really don't need any more OE or mediaeval literature on my shelves just now!

I was, however, looking at the Barnes and Noble site, where I read the following: "The highlight of Volume 1A is the highly praised verse translation of Beowulf by Tim Murphy."

Perhaps someone should put B & N right?

Best wishes!

Clive

[Tim Murphy]

Yes Clive. Amazon did the same, and both are in the glacial process of being corrected. Note to Ginger: Your class can listen to audio of moi reciting the beginning and the end of the poem, in both languages, at Alan's site, crucat.com.

[William A. Baurle]

Alan,

I hope it's OK for me to mention this in here.

I visited your website, and I'm pleased to say it's one one of the most appealing sites I've ever seen. I immediately bookmarked it, and revisit it frequently. The site is easy to navigate, it's a feast for the eyes, and the writing is superb.

I've wanted to recommend the site to others on another board, but haven't done so, since I don't know if that would be appropriate.

Also, congrats to you and Tim on your appearance in TLAOBL.

Bill

[Alan Sullivan]

Hello again. I'm blushing with all the encomia. Soon our laptops will have thumbnail cameras in them, and you'll be able to see me blush.

A couple of notes on the website, now that I'm getting more technically competent. William's praise notwithstanding, it has some problems that I'm working hard to correct.

It looks good in recent versions of Internet Explorer, with a screen display no larger than 800x600 pixels. But it performs poorly with other browsers or larger display sizes.

I have already completed a more widely-viewable format for the weblog, and I'm in the process of reworking the sailing memoir. Beowulf comes next.

I'm very glad that people have enjoyed viewing the site. It's been a lot of fun for me to work out the visual aspects. The elements are simple compared with those that make up the Eratosphere, but I've had the freedom to employ a lot of wild colors. Those of you who've been around here for a couple of years will recall that Alex got a lot of flack for one of his earlier color schemes.

Any Eratosphere discussion of websites must conclude with another paean to Alex for making this forum. I appreciate it all the more, now that I've learned a little about web design.

Alan

[Rhina P. Espaillat]

Alan, congratulations on your site, which I'm looking forward to visiting later today. On the subject of your Beowulf, I just want to say that we in Newburyport had the rare privilege of hearing Tim recite from it, in both the original and the splendid translation: an experience that the town's poetry-lovers have never forgotten. I'm glad to announce that we hope to have Tim back on Nov. 20, and will request from him a portion of The Wulf, among the poems he chooses to read. Kudos to you both, guys, on this signal achievement!