Orlando Furioso is an epic poem written in 1532 as the culmination of the chivalric legends of Charlemagne and the Saracen invation of France, and develops three principal stories:
*the knight Orlando(Roland)’s love for the princess Angelica
*the war between the Franks and the Saracens
*the love of Ruggerio(Roger), a Saracen, for Bradamant, a Christian
Voltaire himself said that Orlando Furioso was a combination of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Don Quixote, only better.
what Voltaire forgot to mention was another ingredient here: 1001 Arabian Nights.
have you ever read the original 1001 Arabian Nights? I tried. the university library had the whole set (many multiple volumes) and I thought, hey I should read those. only, it’s really quite difficult to follow. not that it isn’t immensely interesting for the most part, or funny, or witty, but that there’s a story within a story within a story within a dream within another story. literally. and the stories go on and on and on. forever. in sometimes archaic wording in always small print in volumes of 600+ pages.
I have no doubt in my mind that if I sat down and read one story a night for the next, um, 1001 nights, that I would be thoroughly entertained. but I just couldn’t ever finish it otherwise.
it’s the same with Orlando Furioso. I wondered why it ook Ariosto over 20 years to write this epic poem (translated in my version into English prose), but once I started reading, I wondered no more. there are over 40 Cantos, something equivalent to chapters for the sake of our discussion, and each of them could be a full-fledged novel in its own right. details and details and action and plot twists and then checking up on the other knight, so-and-so, who when we left him last was battling a magician astride a flying horse. several decades of intertwined stories ago.
in Ariosto’s time, the stories of these knights were more than well-known; as well-known as the legends of Arthur and the Round Table were then and even more well-known than those legends are known today. so the details, to readers in the 1600s, were not something they had to absorb upon first hearing. they were just expounding on what legends everyone already was familiar with.
and they are interesting stories, and they are funny and smart. and I love the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Don Quixote. heck I love 1001 Arabian Nights, just not quite as much. so yes I do enjoy Orlando Furioso. but it might take me a thousand years to remember and understand all the twists.
for light reading, no, no, no. definitely not light reading.
for my purposes of enjoyment, it rates a 3 (worth reading).
for appreciation of the poet’s genius, it rates a 5 (don’t miss it). so, if you’re going to study literature for a course, I’d suggest this. if you’re just looking to pass the time, you might want to keep looking, unless you’ve got a thousand years to spare ;)
2 comments:
Mia,
I happened to discover this post because it trigged a Google alert for me over Orlando Furioso.
I actually love that poem. There are many problems that I have with it, but overall it is incredible.
I own both the Waldman translation and Barbara Reynold's two volume translation. I prefer Reynold's version because it is more poetic, plus it is easier to read. Meaning it has larger type and more white space. She also has some great notes in the back.
After finishing the epic poem, I decided to read its predecessor Orlando Innamorato. Yes, because there just weren't enough action/adventure sequences in Furioso.
Actually, it was because I wanted to read how Bradamante and Ruggiero met each other. The first time I tried reading that poem, I had an abridged version and the translation ended at the end of the second book where the lovers met in the third book. (That's just the way the poem itself is structured, it was published as one volume as opposed to Barbara Reynold's version of Furioso.)
A year or so later, the full unabridged version of the poem was published and now I have read how Bradamante and Ruggiero met on the field of battle and fell in love.
I love it so much that I'm actually in the process of adapting the two epic poems into a trilogy. It focuses on the love story of Bradamante and Ruggiero. I then get to ruthlessly cut all the boring stuff that made me skim, such as the genealogy of the House of Este.
good on you! Orlando Furioso is certainly a masterpiece, it just takes one a bit of true devotion to enjoy it properly. let me know how the trilogy comes out. and yes, feel free to leave out the genealogy and praise of the House of Este. ;) I have the feelng that Ariosto forced himself to write that, in order to secure its publication, trying not to lose his dinner the entire time.
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