The Song of Roland (Penguin Classics) by Anonymous (1990)

1178. The Song of Roland [author unknown] translated by Dorothy L. Sayers (3 Aug 1972) I liked this very much and felt I should have read it long before but it was well worth waiting for. ( )

I devoured the introduction which seemed to me a masterpiece of popular, but not too popular exposition. Your demonstration of the poem's unity, which I take to be wholly new, is entirely convincing.

On the translation itself I'd be able to speak better if my text of the original weren't at Cambridge: and also if I knew as much Old French as you. But it certainly gets over the hurdle which matters more than all the other hurdles put together: it is a good, swinging, readable story. I must confess it is in places too slangy for my own taste. But then I've no way of knowing how the original sounded to contemporary ears. Do you think anything in it belonged for them to the level where, for us, 'You've got us in this mess' belongs? Perhaps it did, and certainly your opinion on that point is worth more than mine.

Let me hasten to add that what I cd. remember of the O. French soon made me realise you were tackling an insoluble problem - far harder, really, than Dante sets you. The unadorned is the least translatable style in the world. For instance the exclamation Dieus! One is sure it wasn't at all like God! as now used in conversation; but what else to do with it? Lord! is no better, my God! (apart from its being two syllables) is worse. It is unlikely that anyone wd. have got out of the scrape as well as you.
- from a 29 September 1957 letter to Dorothy L. Sayers, the translator, in The collected letters of C.S. Lewis, volume III ( )

The Song of Roland is a medieval epic poem detailing the feats of Charlemagne. It is, according to Wikipedia, the oldest surviving example of French literature. In The Song, Charlemagne’s Franks go to battle against the Spanish Saracens, a battle precipitated by a traitor in Charlemagne’s midst.

Really, this is an epic about Christians vs. Muslims. It was written around the time of the Crusades and serves as an excellent piece of propaganda about the glory of Christianity and defeating “the pagans.” Like every battle epic out there, the protagonists are pure and manly and valiant, their testosterone flying off the page. The Saracens, of course, are ignorant villains. This is medieval literature, remember, so one can’t expect too much in the way of cultural understanding. For example, the Muslims here worship three gods: Muhammad, Apollo, and Tervagant. Um, wrong.

But with all that said, The Song of Roland is a pretty enjoyable read. The translation I have by Glyn Burgess is accessible and plain, which makes it a welcome sight knowing the headache it usually takes for me to read really old works. The language is simple but effective, and if you’re looking for dramatic, chivalric values on the battlefield, you can’t go wrong.

Questionable politics. Decent battle epic. ( )

In need of something to read over lunch, I pulled this on off the shelf. The Song of Roland is an old French tale, recounting a highly romanticized version of Charlemagne's battle against the Moors at the pass of Roncesvals. It's an epic tale of bravery, betrayal and medieval justice. While there are many parts that are awkward to a 21st Century reader, I found the book to be overall entertaining.
--J. ( )