Frederick Klaeber

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.

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. [http://www.jstor.org/view/00387134/di952001/95p0041o/0 Klaeber Obituary] ]

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. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_language_quarterly/v060/60.2bloomfield.pdf Bloomfield, Josephine. Benevolent Authoritarianism in Klaeber's Beowulf: An Editorial Translation of Kingship. "Modern Language Quarterly 60:2, June 1999] ] 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. [see above] ]

For many years, Klaeber was considered the leading "Beowulf" scholar in the world. [see above] ] 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. [see above] ]

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

ee also

*Beowulf
*Grendel's mother

Notes

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=zFIOAAAAIAAJ&dq=Beowulf+and+the+Fight+at+Finnsburg,&pg=PR10&ots=yFtzHugAt-&sig=vzn0yQgxojfuEv52T-BH4lJ61_0&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fsource%3Dig%26hl%3Den%26q%3DBeowulf%2Band%2Bthe%2BFight%2Bat%2BFinnsburg%252C%26btnG%3DGoogle%2BSearch&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title#PPR1,M1 Beowulf and the Fight at Finnsburg (first edition, 1922)] - Google Books
* " [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/beowulf-oe.html Transcription of Klaeber's edition] ". - Fordham University