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larryhammerGiven how often in the first chapter of Tirant lo Blanc I let out an incredulous "what?!" -- at least once a page -- I probably should not continue right now. I was especially charmed by the siege of the "city" of Warwick by the king of the Canary Islands, whose invading army was larger than England's. I was especially not charmed by the asshattery of Count William of Warwick in his marital conduct (not that his martial conduct was any great shakes either).
It is possible that having just finished reading![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angevin2's transcript of Daniel's The Civil Wars* has simply put me in the wrong brain space for medieval chivalric romance, so I am not ruling it out reading it later. Instead, I think I will continue with Drayton's England's Heroicall Epistles (Elizabethan RPF shipper fics),** or start that reread of Orlando Furioso (Renaissance chivalric romance -- now with 130% more irony). Or maybe actually buckle down for a first read of Ramayana (Indian epic).
Choices. Choices are good.
* Which ends, in Shakespeare terms, in act III of 3 Henry VI, with Warwick the Kingmaker ticked off by Edward IV throwing over his negotiations with a marriage with France for Lady Grey. So not the same Warwick.
** As in historical shipper fics by an Elizabethan, rather than of Elizabethans. Clearly, there is sequel potential here.
---L.
It is possible that having just finished reading
angevin2's transcript of Daniel's The Civil Wars* has simply put me in the wrong brain space for medieval chivalric romance, so I am not ruling it out reading it later. Instead, I think I will continue with Drayton's England's Heroicall Epistles (Elizabethan RPF shipper fics),** or start that reread of Orlando Furioso (Renaissance chivalric romance -- now with 130% more irony). Or maybe actually buckle down for a first read of Ramayana (Indian epic). Choices. Choices are good.
* Which ends, in Shakespeare terms, in act III of 3 Henry VI, with Warwick the Kingmaker ticked off by Edward IV throwing over his negotiations with a marriage with France for Lady Grey. So not the same Warwick.
** As in historical shipper fics by an Elizabethan, rather than of Elizabethans. Clearly, there is sequel potential here.
---L.
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Date: 31 May 2011 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 31 May 2011 06:50 pm (UTC)You are probably unaware that, in order to have some spare spending money for our trip to the UK as TAFF (http://taff.org.uk/) delegates that year, Teresa and I proofread Warner Books' edition.
Teresa was blase, but for me it was an eye-opening education in the basic narrative tropes of high medieval storytelling. Lists! ("The three crucial qualities of a perfectly-bred knight are...") Complete non sequiturs! ("Meanwhile, in Byzantium...") And my favorite, the cartilage that binds together both Tirant lo Blanc and every story ever told by a five-year-old: "And another thing...!"
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Date: 31 May 2011 06:57 pm (UTC)Maybe Orlando followed by Faerie Queen followed by Pratt/de Camp? I think you've read all of their source material.
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Date: 31 May 2011 07:42 pm (UTC)---L.
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Date: 31 May 2011 07:44 pm (UTC)ETA: If I had a portable complete translation of Orlando Inamorato instead of the abridgement from OUP, I'd be tempted by that.
---L.
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Date: 31 May 2011 07:48 pm (UTC)Moving on: this is hardly my first medieval chivalric romance. (Oh, yes, those lists.) But thinking about it, it's one of the later ones -- as well as the only Catalan romance. I wonder whether either of those has anything to do with my reaction. Or if it was just my current headspace.
---L.