This project is now complete. All audio files can be found on our catalog page: https://librivox.org/sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-by-jessie-laidlay-weston/
Source text (please read only from this text!): https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/66084/pg66084-images.htmlThis poem celebrates Christmas by exploring the mystery of Christ's mission on earth: his death, resurrection, and second coming as judge of all human souls. Sir Gawain is cast in the role of Everyman. At the feast of the New Year, an unarmed green giant rides his green horse into the banqueting hall of King Arthur and challenges any member of the assembled company to behead him with a huge axe and then to submit to the same treatment from his victim the next year. Gawain volunteers to prevent Arthur from accepting this challenge, fairly confident that the challenger will be unfit to return the blow. However, when the green knight rides out of the hall carrying his severed head, Gawain must wait a year under what amounts to a sentence of death. At the end of this period his quest for the green knight leads him first through perilous adventures comparable to the life-threatening dangers confronting all mortals in their earthly sojourn and then, when his travels are at an end, through a series of temptations that represent allegorically the spiritual challenges determining not the time of death but the fortunes of the soul after death. The spot where Gawain then meets his foe closely resembles a graveyard superintended by the green knight, now converted, in effect, from a victim into a judge, as Christ was murdered by mankind but survived to be our judge at the end of time. A couple early footnotes may help in appreciating two details in the conclusion of the tale: First, Catholics believe that to perform the sacrament of Confession while intending to commit another sin deprives the priest's absolution of effect. Second, it was generally believed, in the Middle Ages and even today, that evil spirits cannot cross running water. This belief appears in "Tam Lin," "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," and The Lord of the Rings. (Summary by Thomas Copeland)
Target completion date: 2021-12-31
Prooflistening level: Standard
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Magic Window:
BC Admin
LibriVox recording settings: mono (1 channel), 44100 Hz sample rate, 128 kbps constant bit rate MP3. See the Tech Specs
Intro to recording:
Leave 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning.
For the first section, say:
For the second and subsequent sections, you may use the shortened intro if you wish:"Section (or Chapter) # of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, with Introduction & Notes. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org." [Optional: "Read by your name."] "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, with Introduction & Notes, by Unknown, translated by Jessie Laidlay Weston. Section Title."
End of recording:"Section (or Chapter) # of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, with Introduction & Notes, by Jessie Laidlay Weston. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain." [Optional: "Read by your name."] "Section Title."
Say:
If you are recording the final section of the book, add:"End of section (or chapter) #." [Optional, and if not stated in the intro: "Read by your name, city, date."]
Leave 5 seconds of silence at the end."End of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight A Middle-English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose, with Introduction & Notes, by Jessie Laidlay Weston."
Filename: sirgawain_##_unknown_128kb.mp3 where ## is the section number. (e.g. sirgawain_01_unknown_128kb.mp3)
Upload to the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader
MC to select: maryannspiegel
Copy and paste the file link generated by the uploader into the relevant Listen URL field in the Section Compiler, enter the duration in the Notes field, and post in this thread to let your PL and MC know that you have uploaded a file. You may also post the file link in the thread.