The Song of the Cid: A Dual Language Edition with Parallel Text (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Menocal, María Rosa; Raffel, Burton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143105655 ISBN 13: 9780143105657

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2009

Synopsis

One of the finest of epic poems, and the only one to have survived from medieval Spain, The Song of the Cid recounts the adventures of the warlord and nobleman Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar both - 'Mio Cid'. A forceful combination of heroic fiction and historical fact, the tale seethes with the restless, adventurous spirit of Castile, telling of the Cid's unjust banishment from the court of King Alfonso, his victorious campaigns in Valencia and the crowning of his daughters as queens of Aragon and Navarre - the high point of his career as a warmonger. An epic that sings of universal human values, this is one of the greatest of all works of Spanish literature.

About this title

Review:

"A powerful epic of loyalty and betrayal-and victory in battle. Burton Raffel . . . renders The Song of the Cid in a lively, dramatic yet informal style that conveys the heroic yet humorous tone of the original [and] memorably conveys the qualities that enliven the poem: a combination of heroic grandeur, humor and the careful observation of human failings." --The Wall Street Journal

"With a wonderfully informative introduction by María Rosa Menocal, this welcome translation by Burton Raffel gives us a Song of the Cid--the foundational medieval epic poem of the Iberian peninsula--that retains the excitement and fast pace of the original." --Edith Grossman

"In the spirit of Robert Fagles' renditions of Homer, Burton Raffel makes a rich oral tradition immediate to us again. His Song of the Cid is a lesson in translation: in a way that seems effortless, it transports the reader to a past that at first sight appears closed. Along with his warhorse, Babieca, Mio Cid once more tests his knightly limits while showcasing the religious tensions of medieval Spain. The original text made available alongside the English turns this edition into a feast." --Ilan Stavans, author of Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language

"A brisk and instantly captivating new English version . . . Raffel's rendition serves to remind readers of the straightaway power of oral narratives . . . and captures much of the genius of the poem." --María Rosa Menocal, Yale University (from the Introduction)

"An accurate, energetic, and much needed translation of The Song of the Cid. The rhyming and flow are elegant and measured. They beautifully reflect the dashing lines and excitement of the poem. A remarkable achievement." --Francisco LaRubia-Prado, Georgetown University

About the Author:

Burton Raffel is Distinguished Professor of Arts and Humanities Emeritus and Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. His many translations include Cervantes's Don Quijote, Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel (winner of the 1991 French-American Foundation Translation Prize), Chrétien de Troyes's Arthurian Romances, Balzac's Père Goriot, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. His translation of Beowulf has sold more than a million copies.

María Rosa Menocal is Sterling Professor of the Humanities and Director of the Whitney Humanities Centre at Yale. Her books include The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain and, as coauthor, The Arts of Intimacy: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Making of Castilian Culture.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0143105655
• ISBN 13: 9780143105657
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 254
• Editor: Menocal María Rosa