COMPLETED - Beowulf, tr. Francis Barton Gummere AF/jm

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » July 26th, 2006, 4:37 pm

Beowulf. [Translated by Francis Barton Gummere].

This project is now completed and can be found in the catalog at http://librivox.org/beowulf/

This is a short but beautiful book, and the Gummere translation really captures the feel of the Old English. Beowulf tells the story of a mysterious young warrior who saves the Spear-Danes from the terrible monster Grendel and his venomous mother. Long a mainstay of English Literature 101 courses at universities around the world, it is not only one of the oldest, but one of the most exciting English folktales ever invented. The sections are all short -- no more than 10 pages each -- and contain several sections of the poem.

How to claim a part, and 'how it all works' here
To find a section to record, simply look at point 5. below at the sections. All the ones without names beside them are �up for grabs.� Click "Post reply" at the top left of the screen and tell us which section you�d like to read (include the blue number, please). Read points 6. to 8. below for what to do before, during and after your recording.
New to recording?
Please read our Newbie Guide to Recording!
Is there a deadline?
Target completion date of this project: October 31st, 2006 � but try to send your recordings as soon as you can. If you cannot do your section, for whatever reason, just let me know and it�ll go back to the pool. There�s no shame in this; we�re all volunteers and things happen.
Where do I find the text?
Gutenberg e-text: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/981
Please claim section numbers (the blue numbers)!

Reader list last updated: July 26th
Sections claimed: 8 of 8 (100%)
Sections done: 8 of 8 (100%)

Note that if I have not heard from you by October 15th, I will reassign your chapter(s).

kayray (finished 25 September 2006) 01 - Prelude - Section IV
kayray (finished 28 July 2006) 02 - Sections V - IX
gypsygirl (finished 17 August 2006) 03 - Sections X - XIV
jimmowatt (finished 20 August 2006) 04 - Sections XV - XIX
Peter Why (finished 29 July 2006) 05 - Sections XX - XXIV
Acrobatty (finished 09 September 2006) 06 - Sections XXV - XXIX
DSayers (finished 25 September 2006) 07 - Sections XXX - XXXIV
Caeristhiona (finished 23 August 2006) 08 - Sections XXXV - XLI
BEFORE recording:
Please check the Recording Notes:
http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430

Set your recording software to:
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz preferred, 32 and 22.5 also acceptable
DURING recording:
Make sure you add this to the beginning and end of your recording:
Start of recording (Intro)
- "This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit: librivox DOT org"
- If you wish, say:
  "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
- Say:
  "Beowulf, translated by Francis Barton Gummere. [Section]"
End of recording

Do not worry about reading the numbers that designate the different chapters. They are not original to the poem, and are just there to divide the text into manageable sections for the reader. Just announce the section number you'll be reading at the beginning and end of your recording.
Re: Notes
We will NOT be reading the notes for this book, so you can ignore them.
- At the end of the section, say:
  �End of [Section]"
- At the end of the book, say (in addition):
  "End of Beowulf, translated by Francis Barton Gummere."
Please leave 5 seconds silence at the end of your recording, or 10 seconds for files longer than 30 minutes!

Also, please remember to check this thread frequently for updates!
AFTER recording:
Save files as
128 kbps MP3
beowulf_##_gummere.mp3 (all lower-case) where ## is the blue number above. (beowulf_01_gummere.mp3)

ID3 V2 tags
(To find out more about ID3 tags, go to our wiki: http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/WhatIsID3)
Add the following tags to your .mp3 file (how you do this depends on which software you use � if you are unsure about ID3 tags, send me a message). Please mind upper and lower case!

Title: Beowulf - Section ##
Artist: Tr. Francis Barton Gummere
Album: Beowulf

Please ignore tags for Genre and Track Number - these will be filled in automatically at the cataloguing stage.

Transfer of files (completed recordings)
Files can either be posted here in the forum (link to your webspace) or emailed via http://yousendit.com to: Caeristhiona@gmail.com (if you use yousendit, it's helpful if you'll post the resulting link in this thread)

Also, kayray has quite kindly offered us the use of her uploader for this project! If you do upload to her server, just drop me a quick email or PM to let me know and I'll go download it.
http://librivox.kayray.org/
password: vox

I'll need the following information from you when you submit a recording:
- your name as you want it to appear in the LibriVox catalog,
- your webpage URL (if applicable)
- the runtime of the recording in format hh:mm:ss

Any questions?
Please post below or PM me.

Gesine · Post by **Gesine** » July 26th, 2006, 4:40 pm

Oh brilliant brilliant, thanks so much for doing this... having a look now...

EDIT: I should, but can't resist this one... give me 01.

What should we do with the notes?

kayray · Post by **kayray** » July 26th, 2006, 5:05 pm

Can. Not. RESIST!

Gimme 02 if you please :)

(I vote we skip the notes, but maybe add a link to the html version on the catalog page and suggest that interested readers check it out)

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » July 26th, 2006, 5:25 pm

Oh yes, absolutely, I meant to say that:

Let's skip the notes! They're mostly linguistic anyway, and certainly not written by the authour.

kayray · Post by **kayray** » July 26th, 2006, 5:31 pm

Don't forget to sign Gesine up for 01 :)

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » July 26th, 2006, 5:33 pm

Hehe, got it all now. This is going fast! Woohoo!

(As it stands, I'm trying to resist taking a chapter myself -- I want to give other people a chance at it!)

kayray · Post by **kayray** » July 26th, 2006, 5:41 pm

Caeristhiona wrote: (As it stands, I'm trying to resist taking a chapter myself -- I want to give other people a chance at it!)

Aww, one of the perks of running the darn thing is that you get to take first pick! Go for it!

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » July 26th, 2006, 5:47 pm

Hehe, thanks for the inspiraton to be selfish, kayray.

BTW...you don't suppose your son would be interested? I know my younger brother fell in love with this book when he was about fifteen -- he and I read it together. It's a perfect boy's tale.

[/canvassing for participants]

kayray · Post by **kayray** » July 26th, 2006, 7:51 pm

Hey - just to clarify things. When we read the intro and say our section number, that'll be the overall section... I mean, I'll say "Section 2". All the little divisions are called sections as well, and I suppose we should announce them... So then I'd have to say,
Intro blah blah author section 2. Section 5: poetry poetry. section 6...

So I guess what I'm driving at is that it's a bit confusing. How about if you name your sections "parts" instead? Then I can say
Intro blah blah author part 2. Section 5: poetry poetry. Section 6: poetry poetry...

Er, does that make any sense at all? :) Maybe there's some other way to do it that's better. But, maybe you should think about it and let us know. I was about to start recording when i realized it was going to sound funny. :)

Also, how do we pronounce Gummere??? gum-AIR? GUM-erry?

gypsygirl · Post by **gypsygirl** » July 26th, 2006, 8:24 pm

Ok, I'll bite. Section 3, please?

DSayers · Post by **DSayers** » July 26th, 2006, 8:36 pm

Section 7 looks tantalizing ... sign me up.

-denny

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » July 26th, 2006, 11:04 pm

Alright, to clarify a few things...

"Gummere", as far as I can find out, is "gum-AIR."

As for the sections into which Gummere has it divided, they appear to be sort of arbitrary, since they are divided up differently in every version of Beowulf I've seen. For example, the Heaney translation only has 11 different section, as opposed to this version's 41.

...That being said, what say we just not announce the little chapter-sectiony things, and just announce which section of the reading we're doing? It's as logical a way to divide it as any. In which case you would read, maybe...

"Beowulf, translated by Francis Barton Gumm-ERE. Section 09."

jimmowatt · Post by **jimmowatt** » July 26th, 2006, 11:05 pm

kayray wrote:Hey - just to clarify things. When we read the intro and say our section number, that'll be the overall section... I mean, I'll say "Section 2". All the little divisions are called sections as well, and I suppose we should announce them... So then I'd have to say,
Intro blah blah author section 2. Section 5: poetry poetry. section 6...

So I guess what I'm driving at is that it's a bit confusing. How about if you name your sections "parts" instead? Then I can say
Intro blah blah author part 2. Section 5: poetry poetry. Section 6: poetry poetry...

I reckon it would sound better to not announce the small sections and just have a bit of a pause between them instead. There are so many of them it might distract from the tale to be announcing them every 2 minutes.

That's my two penn'orth.

Caeristhiona, what do you think?

Caeristhiona · Post by **Caeristhiona** » July 26th, 2006, 11:06 pm

Soundeth good to me indeed.

Very well, we have a policy!

jimmowatt · Post by **jimmowatt** » July 26th, 2006, 11:48 pm

Caeristhiona wrote:Soundeth good to me indeed.

Very well, we have a policy!

Goodness!
We were both posting more or less the same thing at the same time.

Oh, by the way I'll meta co-ordinate this for you so any files you do yourself, can you send me a copy via yousendit to jim at umor dot co dot uk so as I can keep back up copies locally.
The other files I shall look out for the links and download them myself.
I'll enter you on the to come section in the catalogue.

[EDIT] it's now listed. You'll find it under Gummere [END EDIT]
[EDIT AGAIN] Now listed under anonymous [END EDIT]

Project looking good.
I'm looking forward to listening to this one when it's done.

Kind regards

Jim