The state of the Beowulf manuscript 1882—1983

Abstract

There is a lingering notion among Beowulf scholars, despite Chauncey Tinker's effort to dispel it eighty years ago, that the Beowulf manuscript is slowly but inexorably crumbling away in its modern home in the British Library. The gloomy news for a general audience is that the manuscript, ‘charred at the edges by the fire’ that decimated the Cotton Library in 1731, ‘continues to deteriorate year by year’. A scholarly audience gets the same impression from Norman Davis, who gives us a reproduction of an old transliteration beside new photographs of the manuscript. He says, ‘Zupitza's transliteration … has permanent value as a record of what he could see in the manuscript in 1880–2’, a comment that certainly implies that Zupitza was able to see more in the manuscript a century ago than we can see today. In fact, with the aid of modern artificial lighting, notably fibre-optic and ultra-violet light, we can see far more in the manuscript today than Zupitza was able to see in 1882.

Michael Harmel (1915-1974): A South African Communist and His Discourse

“…120 According to Pallo Jordan, "[a]s an Irishman, Harmel was far more sensitive to the national dimensions of the struggle than many of his white comrades". 121 Indeed, Ireland functioned as a paradigm and additional argument in Harmel's "theoretical" engagement with realities of South Africa and his advocacy of the SACP-ANC alliance. He believed that the history of the country, "a testing-ground of techniques of colonialist domination", might serve as a well of inspiration to "Africans and others confronted with the continuing struggle for national emancipation".…”

“…120 It was, in all likelihood, Harmel himself who in a text undersigned "M." reacted acerbically to an aggrieved complaint entitled "Communism: The New Snobbery". 121 The writer, who likewise preferred to conceal his identity with an initial A., claims to be on the side of the poor. Communism, however, repels him, as do all other political movements.…”

“…See also Butler, Bursting World, 47. 121 Ibid., 23-24. 122 M., "Indifference: An Old Snobbery," ibid., 24-26. but will his generous emotion butter the bread of the vast mass of white people who live in an abyss of poverty and misery, or the helotised millions of non-Europeans in this country and the hundreds and millions of workers and colonial peoples who toil by their lives to enrich a handful of bankers and capitalists?…”

“…The soldier provides what for Harmel is a pithy answer: "'To me it seems perfectly simple… there are only two classes, the proletariat and the bourgeoisie'." 121 The mindless parroting of "catch-words" naturally disappoints the student. Harmel, however, spurns him as an "insufferable snob".…”

“…ms) (MHP: A3300)," 12-13. 121 Harmel, "Much Ado About Pasternak," 11. 122 "Turbulent Africa, [12][13]"RSAF," 57. Although the phraseology and the overall narrative would suggest Harmel's authorship, the former article contains two quotes from journals in French, a language Harmel did not know.…”