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Orlando Furioso

Ludovico Ariosto, translated by Guido Waldman

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  • Brunello CucinelliRemembered as a vivid early reading experience
    Asked about his first reading in the May 2026 FAZ interview, Cucinelli says Orlando Furioso has remained especially vivid to him. He does not identify an edition or say it was his first fully completed book.
    Source

Summary

Ludovico Ariosto follows knights, lovers and their changing fortunes in a Renaissance treatment of the legends around Charlemagne. The story joins war and courtly adventure to fantasy, desire and reversals of fortune.

Ariosto plays with the conventions of medieval romance instead of simply repeating them. This English edition presents the whole narrative in Guido Waldman’s prose translation, preserving its movement among different scenes and emotional registers.

  • SourceOrlando Furioso — Oxford publisher abstract and metadata · Indexed original publisher abstract: chivalric legends, love and arms, witty parody, complete prose translation; print ISBN 9780199540389, June 2008. Direct page returned 403.
  • SourceOrlando Furioso — translator bibliographic record · Publisher-supplied description and Guido Waldman translator credit. This record is another edition; selected print ISBN is separately established by Oxford.

Why read it Our view

For founders who read fiction to study narrative, notice how Ariosto moves among separate plots and changes the reader’s expectations of heroic conduct. Attend to how fantasy and irony change the meaning of familiar stories.