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A review by casparb
The Song of Roland by Unknown
3.0
A peculiar endeavour but interesting. Much prefer it to the highly repetitive Morte D'Arthur (at least, the 800+page one. Sure there are better Arthurian texts). Roland is repetitive in such a way that could possibly grate upon the modern reader, but the brevity of the three stories is such that it doesn't ruin the experience as a whole.
Roland himself is rather Achillean in the first narrative - the titular Song. Plenty of the battle scenes seem to owe something to the Iliad or Aeneid but perhaps that's just how one thought of battles at the time. Also Biblical things happening - Books of Samuel are useful. Daniel too. I've been going over the Bible lately anyway so just happened to notice.
An awful lot of tonal variation between the three stories too! The last narrative, wherein Charlemagne et al go to Jerusalem is Pythonesque - wonderfully so. The boasting scene is an all timer.
Anyway! I think this will be a divisive one, but it's highly accessible and at times quite fun. Certainly a major achievement of its era.
Roland himself is rather Achillean in the first narrative - the titular Song. Plenty of the battle scenes seem to owe something to the Iliad or Aeneid but perhaps that's just how one thought of battles at the time. Also Biblical things happening - Books of Samuel are useful. Daniel too. I've been going over the Bible lately anyway so just happened to notice.
An awful lot of tonal variation between the three stories too! The last narrative, wherein Charlemagne et al go to Jerusalem is Pythonesque - wonderfully so. The boasting scene is an all timer.
Anyway! I think this will be a divisive one, but it's highly accessible and at times quite fun. Certainly a major achievement of its era.