Frederick Klaeber

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Frederick Klaeber (01 October 1863 - 04 October 1954) was a professor of Old and Middle English at the University of Minnesota. His text, Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, is considered a classic work of Beowulf scholarship.

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[edit] Background

Klaeber was born in Beetzendorf, Prussia to Hermann and Luise Klaeber. He received his doctorate from the University of Berlin (Philosophy) in 1892. He was invited to join the University of Minnesota as an Assistant Professor of English Philology. He was Professor of English and Comparative Philology from 1898 to 1931. In 1902 he married Charlotte Wahn.[1]

[edit] Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg

Klaeber was fluent in a number of languages (Greek, Latin, French, Germanic, Old, Middle, and Modern English) and was thus asked by the University of Minnesota to create an English language edition of Beowulf in 1893. Klaeber spent three decades on the project, finally publishing the first edition, Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg, in 1922.[2] The second edition was published in 1928, and the third in 1936. In 1941, the third edition was published again with a supplement. The final edition was published in 1950, with a second supplement.[1]

For many years, Klaeber was considered the leading Beowulf scholar in the world.[2] Indeed, Josephine Bloomfield notes,

Among the editions of Beowulf, Frederick Klaeber's remains the most important. A monumental project begun in 1893, published in 1922, and revised and supplemented up to 1950, it continues to be the central source used by graduate students for the study of the poem and by scholars and teachers as the basis of their translations.[2]

Klaeber's text also provides an extensive glossary, which is considered a standard source for the translation of terms in Old English.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Klaeber Obituary
  2. ^ a b c Bloomfield, Josephine. Benevolent Authoritarianism in Klaeber's Beowulf: An Editorial Translation of Kingship. "Modern Language Quarterly 60:2, June 1999

[edit] External links

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The Old English poem Beowulf
Characters
Objects and related texts
Scholars and translators
Artistic representations
Grendel (1971 novel) · Grendel, Grendel, Grendel (1981 film) · Eaters of the Dead (1976 novel) · The Legacy of Heorot (1987 novel) · Beowulf's Children (1996 novel) · Beowulf (1999 film) · The 13th Warrior (1999 film) · Beowulf & Grendel (2005 film)  · Wrath of Gods (2005 documentary film)  · Grendel (2007 film) · Beowulf (2007 film)


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