The Song of Roland

DuVal (English U. of Arkansas) offers a new English translation of the 12th-century Old French epic. In his introduction, David Staines (English, U. of Ottawa) explains that the poem linked the glorious past of Charlemagne three centuries earlier with the contemporary rising power of the knightly class and the crusades. An edition of La Chanson de Roland in its original language is appended. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)