Song of Roland: An Illustrated Panorama
September 28, 2012 | by Jason Novak
La Chanson de Roland is one of the major epic poems of the Middle Ages. It centers around one of Charlemagne’s adjutants, a prefect named Roland. Though billed as a “song,” it is a blood-soaked screed against paganism. What strikes me most about this story is how truly medieval the medieval courts were. I would patch this up with a happy ending—but how? The happy ending is that we don’t live in medieval France!
Jason Novak works at a grocery store in Berkeley, California, and changes diapers in his spare time.
PMC | September 28, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Well, if I had seen this 5 years ago I never would have bothered reading the bloody “screed” under the table in a SciFi lit class. Brilliant!
bob | October 12, 2012 at 11:55 am
Pedantry: Ganelon appears to be face down but conscious – having been disembowelled this is unlikely as his guts would be on the floor.