Proposes a provocative new reading of the medieval French Song of Roland and its role in changing a world of violent independent warriors into the more contemporary world of citizens subjugated to the state. A study of signal importance to literary and historical scholarship of the Song and of the birth of modern Europe. “This book provides the reader with a new, challenging, and sophisticated critical analysis of the Song of Roland.” —Choice
“[Haidu’s] close reading of the Song of Roland is interesting, informative, and significant . . . ” —American Historical Review
“Probably the most sophisticated book ever written on the Song of Roland. . . . It is at once a work of linguistic analysis, of literary theory, of literary history, and, finally, of history.” —R. Howard Bloch
Haidu argues that the 12th-century Song of Roland played an essential role in the creation of the nation-state, in that the narrative transforms the independent and violent warriors of the feudal period into the subordinate instruments of the nation-state by enforcing on them the subjection to the rule of monarchy.
PETER HAIDU is Professor of French at UCLA.
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Distribution: World Publication date: 9/1/1993 |
