A Hermeneutic Approach to the “Rebirth” of a Classic: Translator’s Subjectivity in Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf

Abstract

Over the centuries-long translation practice of the Old English epic Beowulf, the modern English translation by the Northern Irish poet Seamus Heaney is regarded as a classic "rebirth" of the epic. However, prior studies of his translation focus on partial discussions of cultural identity or translation strategies. It lacks a systematic interpretation of the translator's subjectivity under a unified theoretical framework. Therefore, backed by George Steiner's hermeneutic translation theory, this paper employs its four-step analytical framework — trust, aggression, incorporation, restitution, to interpret Heaney's translation practice combined with close reading and case studies. The study finds that Heaney creatively integrated Irish dialect vocabulary (e.g., "thole", "bawn"), modernized syntactic structures, simplified Old English compound words, and compensated for alliteration and cultural terms. Through these strategies, his translation not only faithfully recreated the epic style, but also infused the translation with Irish cultural traits, strengthening a cultural dialogue between Britain and Ireland. The paper demonstrates that translator's subjectivity is not a deviation from the source text (ST). Rather, it is the core factor enabling a classic to achieve "creative transformation" and "modern rebirth". Therefore, this paper provides a new interpretive path for Beowulf translation research. What’s more, it offers the practice for utilizing translator's subjectivity to achieve the cross-cultural "rebirth" of Chinese literature translation.