Orlando Innamorato (Oxford Worlds Classics)
by Lodovico Ariosto
Category: Fiction

"Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (1532) is the culmination of the chivalric legends of Charlemagne and the Saracen invasion of France, a brilliantly witty parody of the medieval romances, and a fitting monument to the court society of the Italian Renaissance which gave it birth. In a kaleidoscope of scenes and emotions, three principal stories are developed: the love of Orlando for Angelica; the war between the Franks and the Saracens; and the love of Ruggiero, a Saracen, for Bradamant, a Christian. Enlivening and unifying the whole work is the vital personality of the author, endlessly teasing his readers and dropping casual asides about his contemporaries. Though highly serious in purpose and sophisticated in design, Orlando Furioso displays to the full Ariostro's remarkable sense of the absurd. This unabridged prose translation faithfully captures the narrative entire and renders meaning in its lightest shadings."--Back cover.