Prof. Michael D. C. Drout is releasing two original works with Signum U Press: Exploring Beowulf and How to Learn How to Think: What the Liberal Arts Are Good For, Anyway.
Exploring Beowulf is an audio commentary, released in serial format, in which Prof. Drout walks through through all 3,182 lines of the poem. Prof. Drout reads the Old English, translates, explains why to translate it that way, discuss problems with the manuscript, and more. Exploring Beowulf also includes a series of more focused episodes on topics in Beowulf-studies, such as: The Manuscript, Beowulf and Oral Tradition, Beowulf and Christianity, Beowulf and the Germanic North, and others. One topical lecture is released each month. You can subscribe now for serial release!
What the Liberal Arts are Good For, Anyway, under our popular scholarship imprint Eagle & Dragon, demonstrates how studying Liberal Arts is a powerful way of learning how to think. Drout explains the background and history of Liberal Arts, why it split from the disciplines we now call Sciences, and how it can improve problem-solving abilities. It will be released in summer 2023. Pre-order soon on Blackberry.
Prof. Drout’s Author’s Circle, in which he discusses both works, is live and ongoing.
The Author’s Circle
Join our author patronage system, the Author’s Circle, to be an active part of the creative process! Mike’s Author’s Circle members will receive:
- Access to text and audio chapters on release
- Access to notes and updates during the writing process
- Monthly meetings with Prof. Drout to discuss and give feedback on the most recent chapter
- A mention in the book if you make a suggestion included in the final book
- Acknowledgement in the final volume
- Personalized versions of the book at final publication
About the Author
Michael D. C. Drout
Professor of English – Wheaton College, Massachusetts
Dr. Michael D. C. Drout is Professor and Chair of English and Director of the Center for the Study of the Medieval at Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts, where he teaches classes in Old and Middle English, Old Norse, Linguistics, Science Fiction and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. He has authored and co-authored several books, including ones on Anglo-Saxon, Beowulf, Old English, and the Liberal Arts. He edited J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beowulf and the Critics and the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia and co-edited Transitional States: Cultural Change, Tradition and Memory in Medieval England. One of the founders of the journal Tolkien Studies, for which he has co-edited 19 volumes, Drout has published over sixty journal articles and books chapters on topics including Beowulf, digital humanities, Old English psalter glosses, Tolkien, math in science fiction, the hellmouth in the poem “Guthlac,” and Anglo-Saxon medical remedies. He also serves as a consultant for The Lord of the Rings On-line MMORPG, Drout has appeared in two History Channel mini-series and recorded thirteen audio courses.