Customer Reviews

Orlando Innamorato (Orlando in Love)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Orlando Innamorato is an absolutely beautiful story. It is in the same style as Orlando Furioso (by Ariosto), which is its sequel. We follow Charlemagne's paladins as they traverse the world, pagan and Christian, looking for adventure, fame, and especially love. The Saracen princess Angelica has captured the heart of the brave and chivalrous Orlando and he will do anything to earn her love. The only problem is that she remains uninterested. It also seems that nearly every knight in the Christian and Saracen world desires her too! The Christians and Muslims are almost constantly at war, so this is another obstacle in the way of poor, lovesick Orlando. With this premise, Boiardo narrates a story of epic proportions that is enchanting, funny, exciting, and always beautiful. He combines irony, allegory, romance, chivalry and much more to create a masterpiece. The stories contained are similar to the Arthurian legends, but are, in my opinion, livelier and more exciting. I agree with C.S. Lewis when he wrote: "Our oblivion of these poets (i.e. Boiardo and Ariosto) is much to be regretted...because it robs us of a whole species of pleasures and narrows our very conception of literature."

This edition is beautifully rendered into verse, but it is abridged. The complete poetic text of the story is not present. However, the translator always summarizes (in narrative form) those parts he leaves out. There is also a useful introduction and extremely helpful annotations that explain difficult passages in the story. I highly recommend this book, especially if you are a fan of Orlando Furioso or Pulci's Morgante.

Look--if you're going to read the Innamorato (in verse and not abridged), this is what you're going to buy, like it or not. Oh, but you *will* like it. The verse is fine so far as it goes, and it's probably best that Ross avoids rhyme on the whole (rhyming maybe some 5% of the time), especially since he uses the tetrameter as his line, which can be fairly restricting.

However, this particular edition of the translation has more errors than you'll be used to seeing in a book. Probably 90% of the errors seem to be a result of the editing of the manuscript to regularize tense (you'll see remnants of the old edition that weren't excised when the new bits were put in); the other 10% are mere typographical errors.

The errors don't really detract from the enjoyment of being able to read Boiardo, but if I ever read the Innamorato again, I'll probably pencil in corrections. If you think you won't like stumbling on such errors now and then (they really are few, when you think about it), I'd suggest trying to locate an older (1980's) edition of the text.

Parlorpress.com is going to put out a new and full translation in the Fall of 2003. I like this abridged edition for my pocket version. I enjoyed starting from this book to see if the tales also had anything to do with Estensi/Ferarra history...and find it was written as a pleasant pastime for the recovering Duke Ercole...'read slowly on a sunny summer day in a room full of open windows...'
Charles Ross did wonderful research. I have seen commentary by C.S. Lewis on Boiardo and the epic tale and read Fortune and Romance essays edited by JoAnne Cavallo. But C.Ross is excellent for a short history of the time, as well.
For independent background on the D'Estensi (D'Este family) and interaction from Feltrino Boiardo (grandfather) to Matteo Maria, these texts are also good: Edmund Gardner's Dukes and Poets of Ferarra; Ferarra the Style of Renaissance Depotism by Werner L. Gundersheimer and Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder by Anthony Grafton (not much in this title about Boiardo: I used it to confirm or reference related information on Ferarra).
The Boiardo information from Edmund Gardner's book is also still cited by literature scholars, from what I've seen.

Knowing the history of this book, or rather this Italian Romance, it is sad that it has been forgotten by many and only recently translated. I'm not sure I've ever read a "classic" or "great book" which was more outright fun and entertaining than this one. The legend of Orlando and Ranaldo and others is hilarious almost as often as it is heroic. The interactions portrayed between Christendom and the Islam and Pagan world is fascinating and I think unique as with the portrayal of women as several times displaying equal prowess with the men. You can't find half the magic, power, love, or enchantments in King Arthur as you can in Orlando. The fights and wars and adventures are really fantastic or at least on par with the various Arthurian tales I have read before. This is a must read for anyone who has enjoyed King Arthur, fantasy novels (as this seems to be the archetype), or those interested in a oft-forgetten classic of Christendom and the west.

I agree with the other reviewers that the stories here are great fun. It has something for everybody: adventure, battles, romance, horror, and much more. The book itself is very attractive. The font is easy on the eyes (and I think you'll find the best way to read this book is in large chunks, so the pleasant font matters), and the binding is excellent for a paperback. The translation is, for the most part, quite good, and Charles Stanley Ross deserves medals and awards galore for making this book available to the masses. There are a few errors, but they aren't anything so disturbing that you can't move forward. The extras more than make up for the mistakes: there are two maps, great notes, an excellent bibliography, and a VERY useful glossary of characters (seriously, make sure to use this). You can't go wrong with adding a little Boiardo to your life. Enjoy!

Basically, Orlando Innamorato, using epic tropes, still manages to create a magic world of knights, fairies, and giants. Long before Harry Potter and even Lord of the Rings, stories like this one originated the idea of a journey. If you enjoy romance, adventure, action, love, and magic, then this is a highly untapped story.

After my freshman year in college I sold dictionaries door to door in Baltimore. I was a good salesman and made a lot of money, but the life was hard and not for everyone. One of my colleagues couldn't move a book. Finally one day he got lucky. He knocked on a door and before he could say a word, Mrs. Jones (generic for the customer) said she'd buy it. My friend was practically in tears and begged her to let him go through his sales talk to build his confidence. By the time he finished, Mrs. Jones didn't want the book.

An extraordinary list of errors and misunderstandings reduces confidence in the traslated text. If English students need a translation, they should have one. I think that, like my friend (the dictionary salesman), Professor Ross should have stopped there.

Hello Amazon people. Amazon People! Feel my love. Feel my joy. Feel my fire. This is not so much a review of "Orlando Innamorato", than it is an overview of Italian Renaissance epic. I hope Amazon lets me do it. I have written a couple professors, but now I want to share it with the world. I had heard of Ariosto and Torquato Tasso, but was fascinated to learn there is an entire shelf full of these Italian epics. And now in recent years there has been a spate of translations of some of the other epics: of course Boiardo and Luigi Pulci's "Morgante". And I recently discovered on Amazon an edition published in the "I Tatti Library" of Teofilo Folengo's "Baldus". Interestingly, I Tatti. . is Italian authors who wrote in Latin; so apparently Folengo's epic is more Latinate. Moreover, another epic writer is Giangiorgio Trissino with his "Italia Liberata. .". Poor Trissino has the dubious distinction of being one of the most maligned authors known. After Trissino, another writer who shared a similar fate is T. Tasso's father, Bernardo Tasso and his "Amadigi". And further, another writer is Luigi Alamanni, who apparently wrote two epics. There is an entry for Alamanni in "THe New Arthurian Encyclopedia"; this entry is vague as to the quality of the epics. Another writer is Giraldi Cinthio. Cinthio has some notoriety, because he wrote Italian Novelle in the tradition of Boccaccio. Moreover, he wrote all the major genres of the day: epic, again novelle, drama, and even criticism. And furthermore, a main point of this letter is to consider the following; is there perhaps an undiscovered masterpiece among the lot of them? Or might some of the maligned authors be reevaluated? Finally, see A.B. Giamatti's "The Earthly Paradise and the Renaissance Epic". I think that is where I got this list, he mentiions others too; treating them harshly. Also see: "The Cambridge History of Italian Literature". As a footnote many people do not know that Boccaccio wrote a full length epic; "Teseida". Can it be bulked with these other Renaissance epics? And as to its quality? And has it ever been translated into English?-(No) Thank You