"'...you don't know anything about the madness of Roland...'" (p. 354)
Neither did I but Orlando Furioso means "The Frenzy of Orlando" or "Raging Roland." The knight in Williams' story is Astolfo whose role is to restore Orland's/Roland's wits. An SAS man called Castlemane was supposed to cross over into Astolfo's body but Pogo crossed over instead through a clerical error. Why could Astolfo not have been left to complete the job himself? That is a sensible question, therefore not relevant when the story is a comedy and meant to be as nonsensical as possible.
But, unexpectedly, we can learn something of the Matter of France/the Carolingian cycle by googling the characters' names. Williams' story is based on one particular Carolingian legend in a way that Poul Anderson's Three Hearts And Three Lions is not.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
When I first got my copy of MULTIVERSE I was put off by Tad Williams story. Because I was taking the idea of it being a "sequel" to THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS too seriously, indeed too SOLEMNLY. But now that I've got thru my head that TW meant "Three Lilies and Three Leopards (And A Participation Ribbon In Science" as good natured and respectful to Anderson humor, I can now read and enjoy his story.
Ad astra! Sean
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