The Song of Roland Across Time | Jacqueline Victor | First Friday Lecture

The Song of Roland (La Chanson de Roland) is one of the most famous medieval epic poems and a foundational work of French literature, yet the story it tells is far from straightforward history. In this lecture, medieval literature scholar Jacqueline Victor traces how this Old French chanson de geste transforms a historical Basque ambush at the Battle of Roncevaux in 778 CE into a sweeping religious epic pitting Christian France against a Muslim enemy that, historically, was never there. Drawing on close reading of the poem alongside centuries of scholarship and reception history, Victor explores how The Song of Roland accumulated new meanings at every stage of its life: as a feudal narrative of loyalty and treachery in the 11th and 12th centuries, as a cornerstone of French national identity during the 19th-century philological revival, and as a contested text in today's debates over nationalism, colonialism, and the medieval Islamic world. The lecture pays particular attention to the figure of Ganelon, Roland's treacherous stepfather, and to the poem's central tension between the competing values of valor and wisdom embodied by Roland and Oliver. Victor also examines how modern scholars like Sharon Kinoshita have challenged the poem's nationalist framing by recovering the complex, shifting political alliances (including between Charlemagne and the Abbasid caliphate) that the poem deliberately obscures. The lecture closes with a striking contemporary example: a 2017 Arabic-language performance by Egyptian artist Wael Shawky that turns the poem inside out, asking what The Song of Roland looks like when read from the other side. Whether you're new to medieval literature or returning to a text you studied years ago, this lecture offers both a clear narrative guide and a rich framework for thinking about how great works of literature are shaped and reshaped by the times that read them. Chapters 00:00:00 Welcome and Introduction 00:03:57 Lecture Begins 00:09:08 What Is The Song of Roland? 00:13:20 The Story of Roland: Narrative Overview 00:22:58 Basques, Not Muslims: The Historical Record 00:31:13 Reception in the 11th and 12th Centuries 00:43:33 19th-Century Philology and the National Epic 00:46:22 Reexamining Medieval French Identity 00:50:20 Contemporary Arabic Reinterpretation (Wael Shawky, 2017) 00:53:31 Conclusion: Reading Across Time 00:53:38 Q&A Starts 01:04:36 Treachery, Feudal Values, and Ganelon 01:11:24 Colonialism, Nationalism, and the 19th Century About the Speaker Jacqueline Victor joined the Instructional Staff in 2023. She received her Ph.D. in 2020 at the University from the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and taught as a UChicago Humanities Teaching Fellow from 2020-2022. Her research focuses on medieval French literature. About the Basic Program The First Friday Lecture series is presented by the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults. The Basic Program is a four-year certificate program for intellectually curious learners who want to read and discuss the Great Books in a serious, welcoming community. Through close reading and weekly conversation, students engage works of literature, philosophy, history, and social thought by authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Dante, Shakespeare, de Tocqueville, Woolf, and Morrison—guided by outstanding instructors, with no prerequisites, tests, papers, or grades. Offered online and in person, the program invites adults from all backgrounds to deepen their thinking, broaden their perspective, and join a lifelong community of readers. Learn more at https://graham.uchicago.edu/program/basic-program-of-liberal-education/ About Graham The Graham School is a one-of-a-kind intellectual community that brings the best of the University of Chicago to lifelong learners who are seeking discovery and discernment. Through an array of distinctive programs and courses in the Great Books, the liberal arts, and advanced leadership, we welcome learners who seek to deepen their understanding of the world and lead examined lives of purpose. Learn more at https://graham.uchicago.edu