<commit_before>---
layout: post
title: Knights of Old
---

[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight) is one of those books that you tell yourself you should probably read. Maybe you missed it in high school (or like me, imagined yourself too cool for school and just didn't read it) or maybe you didn't take that English survey at university because your ex was in that class and that would just be awkward. I can't recall where I last heard it referenced, though I think it might have been in an issue of the entirely worthy newsletter produced by [<NAME>](http://www.robinsloan.com/).[^rs-footnote]

Whatever the source, I got a yen to read [Sim<NAME>mitage's translation](http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=14372368071&searchurl=sts%3Dt%26y%3D0%26x%3D0%26kn%3Dgawain+simon+armitage) and found it at [my local library](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=local+public+library). What I was expecting was a slog through interesting historical footnotes, sometimes awkward language, and some fun, if slightly cerebral, time spent before having eaten my fill and moved on. What I was not expecting was this: 

>So in trying to harmonize with the original rather than transcribe every last word of it, certain liberties have been taken. This is not an exercise in linguistic forensics or medieval history; the intention has always been to produce a living, inclusive, and readable piece of work in its own right.

And later, reinforcing the point:

>I hope that readers will be able to see this as a kind of controlled and necessary flirtation, rather than carefree unfaithfulness or mindless infidelity.

Which makes a reader with a little sense (deserved or not) of academic intentions a mite nervous. I read on through the introduction, which served to give context, by skimming. Really I had little intention to do anything else throughout. This was an exercise, surely, not a story to enjoy. 

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, incorrect and wrong. Armitage's efforts bear immediate fruit, as I found while I read to my SO (she enjoys crocheting in the mornings and asked me to read more after I quoted a short passage) and had the chance to bounce the alliteration off my own tongue. It was **fun**, which was surprising, but also very accessible. The translator uses very modern phrasing and colloquialisms to great effect, and if the context of the poem is to be believed then this is the very spirit and intent of the original story. No harm, then, if it sways from the proper transliteration of middle english.<commit_msg> minor change to 'knights'<commit_after>---
layout: post
title: Knights of Old
---

[Sir Gawain and the Green Knight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Gawain_and_the_Green_Knight) is one of those books that you tell yourself you should probably read. Maybe you missed it in high school (or like me, imagined yourself too cool for school and just didn't read it) or maybe you didn't take that English survey at university because your ex was in that class and that would just be awkward. I can't recall where I last heard it referenced, though I think it might have been in an issue of the entirely worthy newsletter produced by [Robin Sloan](http://www.robinsloan.com/).[^rs-footnote]

Whatever the source, I got a yen to read [Simon Armitage's translation](http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=14372368071&searchurl=sts%3Dt%26y%3D0%26x%3D0%26kn%3Dgawain+simon+armitage) and found it at [my local library](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=local+public+library). What I was expecting was a slog through interesting historical footnotes, sometimes awkward language, and some fun, if slightly cerebral, time spent before having eaten my fill and moved on. What I was not expecting was this: 

>So in trying to harmonize with the original rather than transcribe every last word of it, certain liberties have been taken. This is not an exercise in linguistic forensics or medieval history; the intention has always been to produce a living, inclusive, and readable piece of work in its own right.

And later, reinforcing the point:

>I hope that readers will be able to see this as a kind of controlled and necessary flirtation, rather than carefree unfaithfulness or mindless infidelity.

Which makes a reader with a little sense (deserved or not) of academic intentions a mite nervous. I read on through the introduction, which served to give context, by skimming. Really I had little intention to do anything else throughout. This was an exercise, surely, not a story to enjoy. 

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, incorrect and what's more, wrong. Armitage's efforts bear immediate fruit, as I found while I read to my SO (she enjoys crocheting in the mornings and asked me to read more after I quoted a short passage) and had the chance to bounce the alliteration off my own tongue. It was **fun**, which was surprising, but also very accessible. The translator uses very modern phrasing and colloquialisms to great effect, and if the context of the poem is to be believed then this is the very spirit and intent of the original story. No harm, then, if it sways from the proper transliteration of middle english.
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