Anglo-saxon... LOVE IT.

So I have decided that Anglo-saxon literature is the perfect literature for me :) I really love Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars so this genre of literature was quite approriate for me. So far all I have read is Beowulf but I am definetely going to investigate to find some more anglo-saxon literature to enjoy. I am a woman who enjoys larger than life male protagonists. Frodo Baggins, Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker and now, Beowulf. Anglo-saxon literature also has that mobster feel. The scary monsters are not the only things you have to worry about in the novel; you also have to worry about somebodies sibling coming back to kill you if you accidently dropped an axe on their head. A lot of times literature does not have that bonded feeling. In the Anglo-saxon culture, you will fight til the death to avenge a family member which brings about an idea in literature that you cannot always experience any where else. I also liked the idea that an average joe of sorts could defeat the most deadly creature ever discovered. It reminds me SO MUCH of Harry Potter. A young man defeats the most feared wizard of all time, Voldemort. And also, LOTR. Frodo Baggins, a hobbit, takes the ring of power through Mordor to Mount Doom and destroys it for the good of Middle Earth. Literature blooms out of other literature and I think a lot of the most memorable novels of our time come directly from the ideas of the Anglo-saxons. The only difference between the Anglo-saxon novels and the more modern novels is that in modern novels, the main character always has "help." Harry has Ron and Hermione. Ron is the character with abilities that are not always obvious, but in the end can be very helpful and Hermione is the brains of the operation while Harry is the brawn. In Beowulf, he is all of those things in one person. He is extremely smart, extremely strong and very brave. You could say that modern literature, although still very fictional, is a tiny bit more realistic (but not much). I would also like to look into the fact that there was no love in Beowulf (or in the parts we read). I think that is something that definetely contrasts to modernistic literature. I would say that romance in novels or stories was innapropriate during the 10th century and therefore was not mentioned in novelistic ideas or in poems. Or maybe they were trying to give Beowulf a godlike image? During the whole novel I was think about how he reminded me of Hercules who actually does become a God. But in Beowulf he is still mortal. But his larger than life persona takes him out of the realms of love for me. Either way this is a great novel because it incorporates everything that makes literature great. A hero and a villain.