The Divine Comedy

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File: 1455903415866.jpg (66.9 KB, 540x377, 540:377, divine comedy pic.jpg)

The Divine Comedy Anonymous 02/19/16 (Fri) 17:36:55 No.8692

I've been reading through Dante's Commedia, and I'm just blown away at how intricate this poem is.

Canto 26 was just absolutely beautiful. If you haven't read it yet, /lit/, you really should. It's so engaging and there's so much you can get out of it. It's almost more fun to read it while taking notes on it.

I love how Canto 26 parallels Ulysses/Odysseus with Dante, how the mountain he runs up on represents Mount Purgatorio, and how the tone of the canto completely shifts, marking an innate change in Dante's nature and self awareness.

Anonymous 02/19/16 (Fri) 20:58:56 No.8702

File: 1455915536957.jpg (210.13 KB, 858x952, 429:476, Merkaba-Dante-Paradiso-Can….jpg)

>he's actually reading the entire thing and not just Inferno

Good on you. I found Purgatorio and Paradiso to be just as awe inspiring and beautiful. People get hung up on the pure shock of the vivid descriptions of Hell, that they completely lose sight of what The Divine Comedy actually is.

Anonymous 02/19/16 (Fri) 22:58:18 No.8708

>>8702

That's why canto 26 is so beautiful. It distances itself from the violent, grotesque chapters right before it and shifts into using nature based and biblical comparisons and metaphors. I can't wait to read the next two books, after seeing how good the vita nuova was.

Anonymous 02/21/16 (Sun) 01:52:26 No.8725

>>8692

What version/translation would you suggest reading? I cannot into Italian unfortunately but also don't want to have to sift through some botched up translation that doesn't properly cover the story the way Dante 'intended' it.

Anonymous 02/21/16 (Sun) 04:27:22 No.8728

>>8725

>reading translations of poetry

You fail.

Anonymous 02/21/16 (Sun) 05:54:39 No.8732

>>8725

Everybody would probably say Hollander, but I thought the Longfellow translation was fine. But then, it just isn't the same. The rythm and such gets lost in translation.

Anonymous 02/21/16 (Sun) 12:31:33 No.8735

>>8728

>>8732

I know, completely aware of that, but I guess I'm gonna have to take that over not understanding it at all. Thanks guys.

Anonymous 02/21/16 (Sun) 17:50:37 No.8739

>>8725

I read Pinsky's Inferno in high school and thought it was interesting, although unfortunately that's the only one he did. I know that halfchan /lit/ tends to recommend Allen Mandelbaum's translation of the entire comedy (that is, when the threads aren't full of translation memes).

Anonymous 02/22/16 (Mon) 03:53:58 No.8751

>>8735

I would recommend reading the original alongside a translation. Your Italian wouldn't have to be fluent, but if you have enough knowledge of Romance languages in general it would get you enough understanding of the verses to appreciate them adequately, as well as benefiting from an English interpretation.

Anonymous 02/22/16 (Mon) 21:32:21 No.8761

>>8751

I do like this idea actually, might teach me some of the language as well. I never really did anything with languages other than basic French/German/Dutch and English back in highschool (EE student here), but I am interested in these historical writings and their relation with cultural/scientific developments in their times.

We'll see how it goes!

Anonymous 02/23/16 (Tue) 02:14:48 No.8763

>>8761

About has a side-by-side version of the Divine Comedy here: http://italian.about.com/library/anthology/dante/blinferno001.htm

I'm not sure how good the translation is, but it might be even more helpful if you can find an interlinear translation. Anyway, it should become quickly obvious to you why so much is lost in an English translation.

Anonymous 02/23/16 (Tue) 14:28:28 No.8767

>>8728

are you serious?

assuming that op learnt italian and he got it to a mothertongue level, he would still need a fuckton of notes. would you be surprised if i told you that florentine vulgar of 8+ centuries ago, while being very similar to modern italian, still has its share of differences?

and poetry is the hardest thing to tackle in a foreign language anyway…

Anonymous 02/23/16 (Tue) 16:54:30 No.8769

>>8767

>defending the reading of poetry translations without even looking at the original version

Yikes.

Anonymous 02/24/16 (Wed) 10:02:35 No.8777

>>8769

except that's precisely what i do.

Anonymous 02/24/16 (Wed) 16:21:14 No.8779

>>8777

Then you do not enjoy reading poetry.

Anonymous 02/24/16 (Wed) 16:33:27 No.8781