Tolkien's successor on newly published Beowulf translation

This week saw the publication of Beowulf: a translation and commentary, by J R R Tolkien - completed when he was a Fellow at Pembroke and Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo Saxon at Oxford University.

The book has been edited for release by Christopher Tolkien, who explained: "The translation of Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien was an early work, very distinctive in its mode, completed in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication. This edition is twofold, for there exists an illuminating commentary on the text of the poem by the translator himself, in the written form of a series of lectures given at Oxford in the 1930s; and from these lectures a substantial selection has been made, to form also a commentary on the translation in this book."

Professor Andy Orchard, successor to Tolkien as Pembroke Fellow and Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor, was a guest on the Radio 4 Today programme on Thursday 22nd May, the date of the book's release.  He explained its significance, commenting "it's excellent...what Tolkien has to say is fresh and original". 

Professor's Orchard's radio interview is available in full on BBC iPlayer until 29th May at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01zk6hs