The appearance of David R. Slavitt's translation of "Orlando Furioso" ("Mad Orlando"), one of the great literary achievements of the Italian Renaissance, is a publishing event. With this lively new verse translation, Slavitt introduces readers to Ariosto's now neglected masterpiece - a poem whose impact on Western literature can scarcely be exaggerated. It was a major influence on Spenser's Faerie Queene. William Shakespeare borrowed one of its plots. Voltaire called it the equal of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and Don Quixote combined. More recently, Italo Calvino drew inspiration from it. Borges was a fan. Now, through translations of generous selections from this longest of all major European poems, Slavitt brings the poem to life in ways previous translators have not. At the heart of Ariosto's romance are Orlando's unrequited love for the pagan princess Angelica and his jealous rage when she elopes. The action takes place against a besieged Paris, as Charlemagne and his Christian paladins defend the city against the Saracen king. The poem, however, obeys no geography or rules but its own, as the story moves by whim from Japan to the Hebrides to the moon; it includes such imaginary creatures as the hippogriff and a sea monster called the orc. "Orlando Furioso" is Dante's medieval universe turned upside down and made comic. Characterized by satire, parody, and irony, the poem celebrates a new humanistic Renaissance conception of man in an utterly fantastical world. Slavitt's translation captures the energy, comedy, and great fun of Ariosto's Italian.

[意]卢多维科•阿里奥斯托Ludovico Ariosto（1474—1533），意大利文艺复兴时期的著名诗人。长诗《疯狂的奥兰多》是他的代表作，将充满神话色彩的骑士冒险故事同现实生活事件编织在一起，使叙事与抒情、悲剧因素和喜剧因素、严肃与诙谐融为一体，对欧洲的叙事长诗产生了深远影响。

[法]古斯塔夫•多雷Gustave Doré（1832—1883），19 世纪法国著名的版画家、雕刻家和插画家，有“最后的浪漫派画家”之称，其绘画如同“漂浮在梦幻中”，对后继者影响深远。他为《圣经》以及拉伯雷、巴尔扎克、但丁、弥尔顿、塞万提斯等人的作品所作的插图赢得无数赞誉，堪称插图史上一座座令人叹为观止的高峰。

赵文伟，知名译者，精通英文、意大利文和西班牙文。已出版译著 30 余部，如《疯狂的奥兰多》《毛姆传：毛姆的秘密生活》《歌剧魅影》等。