Reshaping the Anglo-Saxon Scop: Truth Manipulation and Personal Gain in Modern Retellings of Beowulf

This article identifies two frequently occurring motifs in novelistic adaptations of Beowulf that compellingly corroborate the fictional subversion of the narrative: the scop as the forger of the truth and personal profit as the catalyst for composition. Moreover, it observes how these novels exist within a complex intertextual network, demonstrating how contemporary authors artfully recast Old English literary texts into their work and suggesting the influence of earlier retellings for the employment of either one or both motifs.