Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

English

Date of Award

5-2022

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Thomas Crofts

Committee Members

Scott Honeycutt, David Jones

Abstract

This thesis explores three versions of Beowulf: Gareth Hinds’s graphic novel Beowulf (2007), Maria Dahvana Headley’s translation Beowulf (2020), and Rowdy Herrington’s film Road House (1989). While Hinds and Headley fail to convey Beowulf as a cultural elegy by subtracting or misrepresenting significant scenes and characters, Road House superimposes the story of Beowulf onto 1980s America. Parallels between the plots of Beowulf and Road House and Road House’s interaction with the political underpinnings of the 80s (such as Reaganomics and the AIDS epidemic) make the film one of the best at capturing the elements of cultural elegy in the original poem.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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