Argues that the work of translating the Old English poem, "Beowulf," has yielded an artistic work of the literary imagination that, although far different from the work of the original poet, is compelling for readers of today. Outlines numerous problems of translating the work. (HB)

Tracing the effects of the "laissez-faire" postcolonial politics of language in the United States, which in fact enabled English to become the dominant language through cultural rather than institutional means, the essay then suggests how the linguistic memory that emerges from decolonization and nation building continues, often in…