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4min chapter
Why MAGA Is Fighting Over High-Skilled Immigration
The Reason Roundtable
Modernizing Beowulf & Wolfe's Legacy
This chapter explores Maria Headley's contemporary translation of Beowulf, highlighting its use of modern slang and the relevance of classic literature today. Additionally, it discusses a documentary on Tom Wolfe, addressing his impact on journalism and culture amid the rise of rock and roll.
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Speaker 4
I guess also along these same lines of trying to decide how we grapple with the literature and art of the past, started reading the new-ish, I think it's about four years, five years old, translation of Beowulf by Maria Headley. It was fairly controversial, not least because she uses the word bro in it. And also dude. And the- Wait, is it bro-a It's, well, so, you know, another thing that happened on Twitter over the break was like some squabbling about whether the kids these days understand the importance of reading the classics. And also, there were some sort of jokey translations floating around out there, which made me realize I have not tried to read Beowulf since I was a wee teen in college. And it's pretty delightful. And I think that the bros and dudes work in this translation because it is, in fact, the story of a bunch of bros and dudes who are kind of hanging out by the fire and fighting monsters and just kind of bro-ing out.
Speaker 3
Well, that's how they avoided the malaise, right? They brought meaning to their lives.
Speaker 4
Jimmy Carter take on Beowulf is not what I expected to do today, but here we are. Some people don't like this translation because the lady who did it previously wrote a kind of feminist retelling of a part of the story. But I personally love anything where someone goes all the way down a rabbit hole and can't escape. This gal basically was like, shit, after having written this little novel, it occurs to me that I have no choice but to re-translate Beowulf. And I love that for her. And so far, I love this for me, bros.
Speaker 2
Very good. I was Netflix documentary searching, surfing, I should say, and saw that there was a documentary done recently on Tom Wolfe. And much to my surprise, it came out in 2023. It was produced in part by Jerry Orstrom. Matt,
Speaker 1
we talked about that on this very show. Listen, listen.
Speaker 2
We don't listen when the rest of us talk in this part. Exactly. Exactly. Everyone has their own checkout time, but I recommend it highly, as did, I'm sure, Nick at some point. It's a little 75-minute documentary, and it's interesting to have watched that in the context of Bob Dylan. And I'll just kind of leave it with that in that a lot of the creation of new journalism goes over with the creation of rock and roll. And it's this sort of explosion that begins around 1962. And there's this sort of wild freedom. And there's also an industry and an audience that's kind of ready to have it that's, I think, interesting to reflect on, as are Wolf's two big great origin stories, which I won't spoil. It's a little 75-minute doc. Peter Thiel shows up in it for reasons that are kind of, I don't know why, but it's fine. And it's based on a Michael- Isn't
Speaker 3
that Peter Thiel's role in America right now? It could be. I think he does. He's
Speaker 2
on some more interesting stuff than particularly that, but he's great. He adds to it. But it's based on a Michael Lewis Vanity Fair cover piece from 2015, and Michael Lewis is sort of the anchor, but just some really interesting thoughts about journalism, about what could be done, about what happens when people insist on writing things that are true. And also, there's just no way to escape the notion that none of this would be possible today in its exact form. And it's not necessarily nostalgic in that sense. It's an appreciation for someone who's a very important person in American letters. And I enjoyed it very much. Radical Wolf. It's called 2023. Go check it out. All right. That's all the time. Boy, we've been running long. It's as if some people had a lot to say. Speaking of which, Nick, are there some events that are coming up that you want to talk about? Yes.
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highlights
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Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode