Product Description

`I sing of knights and ladies, of love and arms, of courtly chivalry, of courageous deeds.' So begins Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1532), the culmination of the chivalric legends of Charlemagne and the Saracen invasion of France. It is a brilliantly witty parody of the medieval romances, and a fitting monument to the court society of the Italian Renaissance which gave them birth. This unabridged prose translation faithfully captures the narrative entire and is a kaleidoscope of scenes and emotions of fact and fantasy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #486143 in Books
• Published on: 1999-02-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 656 pages

Customer Reviews

Fabulous feminist swashbuckling nonsense
There is barely a plot to this, but don't let that put you off! Instead, its really a series of legends or legend-like stories that concern knights during some crusade-like period. But again, don't be too put off! Unlike say, King Arthur or The Lord Of The Rings, there are female knights central to the action and Muslims are dealt with quite sympathetically for the time, and are real characters, not simple "baddies" - the heroine marries one, even if he does convert to christianity. Coupled with this is Ariosto's imaginative brilliance in using fairy-tale constructs to make history legendary.

The Fall of Language
I am giving this book 3 stars only because it is Orlando. A work central to European culture and our understanding of love, war, passion, and dignity.
The translation is no good. If it was a new translation, using new phrases and imagery to appeal to a new, younger audience, that would have been fine. If it was a 'classic' translation, one that employs archaisms in the most common words, that too would have been fine.
As it stands, Waldmann's translation is a hideous beast, cobbled together from turns of phrases that I would be ashamed of using in conversation and lofty archaisms that in such company simply appear absurd. I don't know what Waldmann was trying to do. But making Orlando Furioso unreadable is surely the accomplishment of a genius.

Orlando Furioso
In 778 Charlemagne made an incursion over the Pyrenees into Spain. Needing to take his army to the Rhine to meet another challenge, he retreated, leaving a rearguard to protect his army as it withdrew. That rearguard, led by Count Hruodland (later known as Roland) was defeated at Roncesvalles.

This episode gave us the legend of the brave Roland, who died blowing his horn to summon Charlemagne to return and rescue the overwhelmed soldiers. The story grew ever more elaborate with every retelling. In Italy Roland became Orlando. By the 1400s France and Italy nostalgically looked back on a lost world that never existed, the world of chivalry. Roland (or Orlando) figured largely in this literature that grew up about knights, ladies, dragons and magicians.

The Italian poet Matteo Boiardo wrote his contribution to the Roland cycle, Orlando Innamorato (1495). Boiardo died before finishing the planned final third part of his poem.

That brings us to Ludovico Ariosto who set out to finish Boiardo's epic. Ariosto was a superior poet and his Orlando Furioso is a truly major work and an important part of the Western Canon. It is also the most Italian book I have ever read. The mix of magic, history, humor, irony all combine in a way that ends up feeling Italian, yet I can't exactly explain why. Anyone who has a close familiarity with Italian culture will understand what I mean. I can give an example. A brave knight saves the beautiful damsel. She offers herself as a reward. The brave knight then starts unbuckling his armor in order to collect his payment. Finally the lady grows bored with the laborious, time-consuming knightly undressing and wanders off. This irreverent original twist on an old story, done with a sly smile is pure Ariosto and pure Italy.

Ariosto is not only a good poet, he is a great storyteller. Because of this Orlando Furioso becomes a wonderful book in Guido Waldman's prose translation. I have rarely found translations of poetry to be satisfactory. As one man said, you can translate the words, but who can translate the music?

It's a shame this terrific book has slid off the modern reader's radar. The Renaissance was more than pictures and statues. It was a complete rebirth of the western mind. Orlando Furioso is as important a work of art as Botticelli's Primavera or Raphael's School of Athens.

It's a big book. Give yourself some time to enjoy this burly, mirthful work. It's worth it.
-Bill McGann, author of The Story of the Tour de France