Abstract

In the epic Song of Roland, although some of Rolands’s words and actions are ridiculously wrong-headed, the views of him from other characters, even the traitor Ganelon, display Roland as generous and lovable. I will be referring to questions I asked myself and choices I made while translating the Roland while a visiting fellow at Wolfson, 2010-11.

John DuVal is the James E. and Ellen Wadley Roper Professor of Creative Writing/ Translation at the University of Arkansas. He has received two translation awards from the Academy of American Poets and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His latest book, The Song of Roland, which he translated while a visiting fellow at Wolfson, was a finalist for the 2013 PEN -USA Translation Award. Since then he has lectured, from a translator’s point of view, on various aspects of The Song of Roland in Washington, D.C.; King’s College, Cambridge; Christ University, Bengalore; Dublin; and Durham.