Anonymous; Sayers trans, The Song of Roland (11thC or 12thC; 1957)

Anonymous.
The Song of Roland.
Translated by Dorothy L. Sayers.
Book Series: Penguin Classics.
London: Penguin Books, 1957.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Translator Information : Dorothy L. Sayers

• Dorothy L. Sayers, sayers.org.uk, The Dorothy L Sayers Society.
• Dorothy L. Sayers (1893 – 1957), Wikipedia.
• Dorothy L. Sayers, GoodReads.com.
• Lindsey Scholl, "The Remarkable Dorothy L. Sayers", C.S. Lewis Institute, 07 June 2018.

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Wikipedia Articles : The Song of Roland; French Literature; History of France; History of Spain

• Song of Roland (c.1040 to c.1115).
• Chanson de geste, "Old French for 'song of heroic deeds' ... a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem".
• Twelve Peers (Paladins).
• Matter of France.
• Roland (d. 778).
• Battle of Roncevaux Pass, 778.
• First Crusade, 1096–1099.
  In her Introduction (page 9) Dorothy L. Sayers places the composition of The Song of Roland as soon after the First Crusade. I found that reading about the First Crusade provides context and understanding of The Song of Roland that is otherwise lacking for a historically naive reader today; in particular, such reading introduces one to the religious and geopolitical context of the late 11th century, which explains the large scale conflict background in the The Song of Roland between Christian kingdoms and Muslim kingdoms. The personal story of The Song of Roland (the betrayal of Roland and his French army by Roland's stepfather Ganelon) is embedded within this larger Christian versus Muslim conflict which the anonymous poet then places in the legendary era of Charlemagne. I find that for a reader today the late 8th century, the Early Middle Ages, the period of the historical Battle of Roncevaux Pass, is even more intensely remote and less detailed from our (mine, at least) understanding and imagination than the era of Crusades.
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• French literature.
• Medieval French literature.
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• Early Middle Ages, late 5th to the 10th century.
• History of France.
• History of France: Frankish kingdoms (486–987).
• Carolingian dynasty.
• Carolingian Empire, 800–887.
• Charlemagne, reign 768 – 814.
• Battle of Roncevaux Pass, 778.
• Muslim presence in medieval France.
• France in the Middle Ages.
• Renaissance of the 12th century.
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• History of Spain.
• History of Spain: Islamic al-Andalus and the Christian Reconquest (8th–15th centuries).
• Saracen(s).
• Al-Andalus, "the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula".

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Some Other English Translations of The Song of Roland :

• Anonymous. The Song of Roland. Translated by C. K. Scott Moncrieff. London: Chapman & Hall, 1919.
  [Archive.org.]
• Anonymous. The Song of Roland and Other Poems of Charlemagne. Translated by Simon Gaunt and Karen Pratt. Book Series: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
• Anonymous. The Song of Roland. Translated by Glyn S. Burgess. Book Series: Penguin Classics. New York: Penguin Books, 1990.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Google Books, ebook, different part viewable; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
• Anonymous. The Song of Roland. Translated by W. S. Merwin. New York: The Modern Library (Penguin Random House), 1963, 2001.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
• Anonymous. The Song of Roland. Translated by Robert Harrison. New York: Signet Classics (Penguin Random House), 19##, 2012.
  [Publisher; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]

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Notes:

I recently started reading Don Quixote and following the assigned reading in Roberto González Echevarría's lecture course Cervantes' Don Quixote. The character Alonso Quijano has become obsessed with the literature of Chivalric romance. In his early lectures González Echevarría discusses the literary predecessors of Don Quixote; there is a large body literature from the preceding 500 years before Don Quixote that influenced it and with which I was (and remain) unfamiliar. To satisfy my own obsessive inclinations I wanted to clarify the sequencing, relationships, and characteristics of these literary predecessors. Here is my general outline, with some of the more prominent examples, sometimes with the details of a recently published edition (there are sometimes/often more than one recent edition to choose from).
Disclaimer: This is a rough draft; I have not read this literature.

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1. General Background Topics
   • Medieval literature.
   • Matter of Britain.
   • Matter of France.
   • Matter of Rome.
   • Holy Grail.
   ~~~~~~~~~~
   • Early Middle Ages, late 5th to the 10th century.
   • High Middle Ages, c.1000 – c.1300.
   • Renaissance of the 12th century.
   • Late Middle Ages, ended c.1500.
   • Renaissance, broadly 14th century to 17th century.
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2. Chanson de geste [Song of Heroic Deeds]
   • Chanson de geste [Song of Heroic Deeds].
     A genre of epic poems celebrating martial valor reflecting the warfare-ridden societies of the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries), which were later written down (composed?) during the High Middle Ages (c.1000 – c.1300) perhaps associated with Renaissance of the 12th century.
   • Anonymous, Song of Roland (c.1040 to c.1115).
   • Cantar de gesta, "a genre of medieval Spanish poetry, analogous to the chanson de geste in Old French".
   • Anonymous, Cantar de mio Cid (12th century).
     • The Song of the Cid. Translated by Burton Raffel. Book Series: Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 2009.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Wace (c.1110 – after 1174), Roman de Brut (completed 1155).
     • Wace. Roman de Brut. Translated by Glyn S. Burgess. Book Series: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
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3. Chivalric romance
   • Chivalric romance.
     The societies of the High Middle Ages (c.1000 – c.1300) had developed significantly since the Early Middle Ages. The Chivalric Romance evolved from the Chanson de Geste with a wider range of themes and reflecting the now more stable societies. This literary genre declined towards the end of the Late Middle Ages (ended c.1500).
     Dorothy L. Sayers discusses the transition from the Chanson de geste to Chivalric Romance on pages 29-31 of her Introduction to The Song of Roland.
   • NOTE: The word "romance" has been used to describe several different literary forms, themes, and genres in the Western literature of the last thousand years, which may cause confusion. Consult the article Romance (prose fiction) for some clarification on this topic.
   • Knight-errant, "a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature ... the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric virtues, either in knightly duels (pas d'armes) or in some other pursuit of courtly love."
   • Marie de France (fl. 1160–1215), Lais of Marie de France (late 12th century).
     ** Important influence on the development of chivalric romance.
     • Marie de France. The Lais of Marie de France. Translated by Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby. Book Series: Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1986, 1999.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Chrétien de Troyes (c.1160 – 1191), author of several chivalric romances.
     • Chrétien de Troyes. Arthurian Romances. Translated by William W. Kibler and Carleton W. Carroll. Book Series: Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1991, 2004.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Wolfram von Eschenbach (c.1160/80 – c.1220), Parzival (early 13th century).
     • Wolfram von Eschenbach. Parzival and Titurel. Translated by Cyril Edwards. Book Series: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Anonymous, The Quest of the Holy Grail [Queste del Sante Graal] (early 13th century France).
     Lancelot-Grail Cycle, Wikipedia.
     • The Quest of the Holy Grail. Translated by Pauline M. Matarasso. Book Series: Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1969.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
       (A fusion of Arthurian legend and Christian symbolism.)
   • Guillaume de Lorris (c.1200 – c.1240), Roman de la Rose (part 1 c.1230; part 2 c.1275).
     • Guillaume de Lorris. The Romance of the Rose. Translated by Frances Horgan. Book Series: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, 2008.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Anonymous, Amadis de Gaula (14th century).
     Earliest surviving printed edition 1508, compiled by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (c.1450 – 1505).
     ** Significant influence on Don Quixote.
   • Anonymous (Gawain Poet), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (late 14th century).
     • Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Translated by Keith Harrison. Book Series: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983, 1998, 2008.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
     • Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo. Translated by J.R.R. Tolkien. New York: William Morrow Paperbacks (HarperCollins Publishers), 2021.
       [Publisher; Google Books, 2021; Google Books, edition with Preview; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Thomas Malory (c.1393 or 1425 to c.1470), Le Morte d'Arthur (completed c.1470, printed 1485).
     • Thomas Malory. Le Morte Darthur: The Winchester Manuscript. Edited by Helen Cooper. Book Series: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998, 2008.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
     • Thomas Malory. Le Morte D'Arthur, Volumes I and II. Edited by Janet Cowen. Book Series: Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1969, 1986, 2004.
       [Publisher, Volume I; Publisher, Volume II; Google Books, Volume I; Google Books, Volume II; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com, Volume I; GoodReads.com, Volume II; Amazon.com, Volume I; Amazon.com, Volume II.]
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4. Italian Literature
   • Italian Literature.
   • Italian Renaissance, 15th and 16th centuries.
   • Renaissance literature.
   • Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 1375), The Decameron (written c.1348–1350s).
   • Matteo Maria Boiardo (1440 – 1494), Orlando innamorato (1495).
   • Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 – 1527), The Prince (written c.1513, first published 1532).
   • Ludovico Ariosto (1474 – 1533), Orlando Furioso (early version 1516, final version 1532) [Orlando = Roland].
     ** Significant influence on Don Quixote.
     • Ludovico Ariosto. Orlando Furioso. Translated by Guido Waldman. Book Series: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974, 1983, 1998, 2008.
       [This is a prose translation.]
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
     • Ludovico Ariosto. Orlando Furioso: A Romantic Epic, Part One and Part Two. Translated by Barbara Reynolds. Book Series: Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1975 and 1977.
       [This is a poetry translation.]
       [Publisher, Part One; Publisher, Part Two; Google Books, Part One; Google Books, Part Two; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com, Part One; GoodReads.com, Part Two; Amazon.com, Part One; Amazon.com, Part Two.]
   • Baldassare Castiglione (1478 – 1529), The Book of the Courtier (1528).
   • Matteo Bandello (c.1480 – 1562).
     Author of novelle, long short stories, with which Cervantes was familiar and whose style influenced Cervantes' "The Tale of Inappropriate Curiosity" ["The Man Who Was Recklessly Curious" in the Grossman translation] (DQ, I, 34-36). See Gonzalez Echevarria's Lecture Nine.
   • Torquato Tasso (1544 – 1595), Jerusalem Delivered (1581).
     • Torquato Tasso. The Liberation of Jerusalem. Translated by Max Wickert. Book Series: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
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5. French Literature
   • French Renaissance literature, 16th century.
   • François Rabelais (1483/1494 – 1553), Gargantua and Pantagruel (c.1532; 1534–c.1564).
   • Michel de Montaigne (1533 – 1592), Essays (written 1570 to 1592; first published 1580).
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6. Spanish Literature before Don Quixote
   • Medieval Spanish literature, beginning of the 13th to the end of the 15th century.
   • Spanish Renaissance literature, 15th and 16th centuries.
   • Spanish Golden Age, 1492 – 1681.
   • Siglo de Oro, Wikipedia Spanish.
   • Spanish Baroque literature, 17th century.
   • Anonymous, Cantar de mio Cid (12th century).
     • The Song of the Cid. Translated by Burton Raffel. Book Series: Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 2009.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Anonymous, Amadis de Gaula (14th century).
     Earliest surviving printed edition 1508, compiled by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (c.1450 – 1505).
     ** Significant influence on Don Quixote.
   • Antonio de Nebrija (1444 – 1522), Gramática de la lengua castellana (1492).
   • Fernando de Rojas (c.1465/73 – 1541), La Celestina (1499).
     ** Significant influence on Don Quixote.
     • Fernando de Rojas. Celestina. Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden. Book Series: Margellos World Republic of Letters. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009, 2012.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Picaresque novel.
   • Anonymous, Lazarillo de Tormes (earliest published edition 1554).
     ** Significant influence on Don Quixote.
     Francisco de Quevedo (1580 – 1645), El Buscón [The Swindler] (written c.1604, first published 1626).
     • 'Lazarillo de Tormes' and 'The Swindler': Two Spanish Picaresque Novels. Translated by Michael Alpert. Book Series: Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1969, 2003.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Teresa of Avila (1515 – 1582), The Way of Perfection (1566); Interior Castle (written 1577, published 1588).
   • St John of the Cross (1542 – 1591), Dark Night of the Soul (written in the late 1570s?).
   • Miguel de Cervantes (1547 – 1616), Novelas ejemplares (written 1590-1612, published 1613).
     • Miguel de Cervantes. Exemplary Novels. Translated by Edith Grossman. Edited by Roberto González Echevarría. Book Series: Margellos World Republic of Letters. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016, 2018.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Lope de Vega (1562 – 1635).
     • Lope de Vega. Three Major Plays. Translated by Gwynne Edwards. Book Series: Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, 2008.
       [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
   • Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600 – 1681), La vida es sueño [Life is a Dream] (1629–1635).
     (The work of Calderón de la Barca came after Don Quixote but it seems wrong not mention him.)
     • Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Life is a Dream. Translated by Gregary Racz. Book Series: Penguin Classics. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
     • Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Calderon de la Barca: Six Plays. Translated by Edwin Honig. New York: IASTA [Institute for Advanced Studies in the Theatre Arts] Press, Distributed by Fordham University Press, 1996. Previously published: Las Ameŕicas Publishing Company, 1961.
       (Includes: Life is a Dream, Secret Vengeance for Secret Insult, Devotion to the Cross, The Mayor of Zalamea, The Phantom Lady, The Crown of Absalom.)
       [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
     • Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Four Great Plays of the Golden Age. Translated by Rick Davis. Smith & Kraus, 2008.
       (Includes: Life is a Dream, The Phantom Lady, The Constant Prince, The Great Theatre of the World.)
       [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
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7. Don Quixote
   • Miguel de Cervantes (1547 – 1616). Don Quixote (1605, 1615).
     • Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote. Translated by Edith Grossman. New York: Ecco / HarperCollins Publishers, 2003.
       [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]

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