{"product_id":"found-in-translation-itinerant-french-epics-in-medieval-scandinavia-9780888443144","title":"Found in Translation: Itinerant French Epics in Medieval Scandinavia","description":"\u003ci\u003eFound in Translation: Itinerant French Epics in Medieval Scandinavia\u003c\/i\u003e contains English translations of three Old Norse-Icelandic renderings of French \u003ci\u003echansons de geste: Elis saga ok Rosamundu, Bevers saga, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFlovents saga\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as \u003ci\u003eBaerings saga\u003c\/i\u003e, an Icelandic chivalric romance. Unlike the courtly romances, such as the Arthurian narratives of Chretien de Troyes, the French epics were anonymous; the earliest is the eleventh-century \u003ci\u003eChanson de Roland\u003c\/i\u003e (Song of Roland), dated to around 1100. The epic poems were recited by \u003ci\u003ejongleurs\u003c\/i\u003e, itinerant storytellers, who performed, for example, at markets on feast days in exchange for payment. The French epics translated into Old Norse-Icelandic were composed a couple of centuries later, under the influence of courtly romance, and are commonly designated \"romance epics.\" They introduced the motif of the love of a beautiful Saracen maiden, \u003ci\u003ela bele Sarrasine\u003c\/i\u003e, for a Christian knight in Scandinavia. The romance epics are anonymous, unattributed narratives, which were subject to revision and to recreation. Each epic, \u003ci\u003eElie de Saint-Gilles, Boeve de Haumtone, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFloovant\u003c\/i\u003e, has been transmitted in only one manuscript. Comparison of the Old Norse-Icelandic translations with the French epics reveals that the translations are renderings of variant versions of these narratives. At times the translations provide more information or less than the French epics; leave out entire passages or figures; or add new matter and conflicting facts. These translations resulted in the creation of a new Icelandic genre, the \u003ci\u003eriddarasaga\u003c\/i\u003e (pl. \u003ci\u003eriddarasogur\u003c\/i\u003e), or chivalric saga. Found in the oldest manuscript containing translations of French epics, \u003ci\u003eBaerings saga\u003c\/i\u003e stands at the head of this tradition, the first \u003ci\u003eriddarasaga\u003c\/i\u003e and a thoroughly original Icelandic narrative, despite a plot heavily indebted to \u003ci\u003eBevers saga\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMarianne Kalinke is Center for Advanced Study Professor Emerita of Germanic Languages and Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is the editor of and a contributor to \u003ci\u003eThe Arthur of the North: The Arthurian Legend in the Norse and Rus' Realms\u003c\/i\u003e (2011) and of \u003ci\u003eNorse Romance II: The Knights of the Round Table\u003c\/i\u003e (1999), as well as editor and translator of \u003ci\u003eMottuls saga, Ivens saga, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eErex saga\u003c\/i\u003e in that volume; and author of \u003ci\u003eStories Set Forth with Fair Words: The Evolution of Medieval Romance in Iceland\u003c\/i\u003e (2017). With Kirsten Wolf she is co-author and translator of \u003ci\u003ePious Fictions and Pseudo-Saints in the Late Middle Ages\u003c\/i\u003e (2023), also published by the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"PIMS","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50870882599186,"sku":"9780888443144","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_965204ce-6ae4-4765-a59c-6cff02f5a22c.jpg?v=1737817955","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/found-in-translation-itinerant-french-epics-in-medieval-scandinavia-9780888443144","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}