The subject of violence

the long version

"The twelfth-century Song of Roland played an essential role in the creation of the nation-state, argues Peter Haidu in this remarkable new study. The narrative of the Song of Roland transforms the independent and violent warriors of the feudal period into the subordinate instruments of the nation-state by enforcing on them subjection to the rule of monarchy. Haidu tracks this transformation in the Song of Roland by employing a semiotics informed both by contemporary theory and by historical research into the bases of material production and the organization of military and political power. He gives a precise and responsible account of the text, while demonstrating that such an account must inevitably be historical." "Haidu locates the Song of Roland as a crucial step in the evolution of European violence from feudalism to the nation-state. His careful textual analysis describes the text in terms of its own cultural assumptions, defined above all by the problematics of orality and literacy. He argues for the relative autonomy of the Song of Roland that enables it to transform social and historical values, possibly in ways unforeseen in the historical record, and to act as a performative agent on the scene of history."--Jacket.