Medieval sex

[mount_oregano]

I'm still translating the Spanish novel Amadis of Gaul, and still having fun. Who wouldn't enjoy translating a 13th-century sentence like this? Remember that it was meant to be read aloud to an audience:

"At this point the two damsels went to search through the castle with other women to find them something to eat, leaving Sir Galaor and the damsel, who was named Brandueta, alone, conversing as ye have heard, and as she was very beautiful and he was eager for such sustenance, before the meal was brought and the table set, together they unmade a bed that was in the hall where they were and they made the damsel a woman, which she had not been before, satisfying their desires, which had grown great during the brief time they had spent gazing at one another in the flourishing beauty of youth."

This is from Chapter 25, which I posted today. You can read it at http://amadisofgaul.blogspot.com/ or at the LiveJournal syndication http://syndicated.livejournal.com/amadisofgaul/

— Sue Burke

Comments

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

In my translation, I tried to keep the whole sentence together, even though long sentences work easily in Spanish and not so easily in English; often I have to break things up just so it makes sense in English. But in this case, the author worked hard to create an entertaining arc, starting with the mundane and ending with purple prose. It's awesome.