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A review by insearchof_wonder_
Fierce Wars and Faithful Loves by Edmund Spenser
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is one where I give 5 stars out of appreciation and respect rather than straight enjoyment.
In other words, the archaic language made it somewhat of a challenge to read, so it definitely was not a mindless pleasure read type of enjoyment. I'm not intellectual enough to pick up this sort of book "just for fun" and/or entertainment. It was more of an educational read for me, and in that respect, I appreciated it.
Besides that, my reading preferences tend toward realism - magical fanciful stories and allegories are not genres I choose for pleasure reading, even excellent classic ones. The genre of this book, therefore, is not my preferred genre.
However. The excellence of a thing doesn't always lie in my subjective enjoyment of it, and that's where I give this 5 stars. With the help of the footnotes and the word definitions, once I got into the flow of the language, it was very easy to understand. Spenser wasn't trying to be coy, ironic, or obscure like so many authors today. He tells it like it is, but eloquently.
In this first book of six, we follow Redcross the knight on his journey toward holiness, and the snags and temptations he meets along the way. It's a lovely allegory of the process of sanctification, and Spenser very capably describes the foes that every believer encounters on that journey: pride, despair, lust, deception, hypocrisy and more. His crowning moment and the great trial that purifies him the most is his battle with the dragon, which is quite epic all by itself. He thereby wins the hand of the fair maiden Una, and thus concludes his story.
While it can be difficult to look past the archaic language, this story is perfectly relevant for modern readers, not only because it heavily influenced many of the authors we know and love, C S Lewis most especially. What Redcross experiences metaphorically, we all experience materially. We face the same giants and monsters he did. In particular, the Canto where he meets up with Despair felt startlingly modern to me, unfamiliar patterns of speech notwithstanding. That Canto was gold right there, the truth within it just as relevant and vital today as it was several hundred years ago.
In other words, the archaic language made it somewhat of a challenge to read, so it definitely was not a mindless pleasure read type of enjoyment. I'm not intellectual enough to pick up this sort of book "just for fun" and/or entertainment. It was more of an educational read for me, and in that respect, I appreciated it.
Besides that, my reading preferences tend toward realism - magical fanciful stories and allegories are not genres I choose for pleasure reading, even excellent classic ones. The genre of this book, therefore, is not my preferred genre.
However. The excellence of a thing doesn't always lie in my subjective enjoyment of it, and that's where I give this 5 stars. With the help of the footnotes and the word definitions, once I got into the flow of the language, it was very easy to understand. Spenser wasn't trying to be coy, ironic, or obscure like so many authors today. He tells it like it is, but eloquently.
In this first book of six, we follow Redcross the knight on his journey toward holiness, and the snags and temptations he meets along the way. It's a lovely allegory of the process of sanctification, and Spenser very capably describes the foes that every believer encounters on that journey: pride, despair, lust, deception, hypocrisy and more. His crowning moment and the great trial that purifies him the most is his battle with the dragon, which is quite epic all by itself. He thereby wins the hand of the fair maiden Una, and thus concludes his story.
While it can be difficult to look past the archaic language, this story is perfectly relevant for modern readers, not only because it heavily influenced many of the authors we know and love, C S Lewis most especially. What Redcross experiences metaphorically, we all experience materially. We face the same giants and monsters he did. In particular, the Canto where he meets up with Despair felt startlingly modern to me, unfamiliar patterns of speech notwithstanding. That Canto was gold right there, the truth within it just as relevant and vital today as it was several hundred years ago.