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Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: The Strife of Love in a Dream by Joscelyn Godwin, Francesco Colonna
ulrikemaria's review
4.0
holy shit??????????? what the fuck is going on <3. only modern thing of that even comes close to this is that guy on 4chan who had a fetish for tiles. this was the weirdest book ive ever read in my life. so weird that i had to make a new shelf on here, which i doubt will get many more books on it. side note yes i read this bc im reading the rule of four atm and i wanted a more indepth understanding. but like. this was a whole journey. i fucking went through it.
well. book 1 of it was. it was so bizarre that had this just been that much, i would have had to have rated this 5/5, bc ive never read anything like it in my life. but then book 2 happened and i was like. oh you are going literally above and beyond in terms of sexism. never have i seen such incel shit. take this rant/recap of part of book 2 i wrote in a word document in a seething rage.
incredibly sexist. women must bend to every whim of men, or they will be punished by the gods.
poliphilo finds polia at her place of worship, where he talks to her at length about how he is so in love with her and that also shes like ruined his life or whatever. the next day he is still fucking there, and talks again at length to her. she is indifferent to him, because she doesn’t fucking know this guy and she doesn’t owe him shit. he just straight up dies in front of her,
she later gets transported by tornado to some forest where she witnesses two naked women tied up dragging a cart and covered in cuts and blood, being whipped by a boy on the cart, assumedly cupid. she then witnesses them being cut up by cupid and then their bodies being consumed by wild animals. she is terrified this whole time, obviously.
she is then transported back to the spot she was taken from. the lesson here is that if you reject a man who professes his undying and frankly disturbing love of you and obsession with you, you deserve to be traumatised by witnessing extreme violence against women.
shaken, polia goes to sleep, where she has a nightmare she is taken by two horrendously ugly and disgusting men (their appearance is discussed in great detail, which i would call almost fetishistic, but this is just how colonna discusses literally everything), who she assumes to be executioners come to take her to the same fate as the women she saw.
she awakes screaming and crying. she asks her nurse for advice, and her nurse tells her a story where a woman had a man profess his love to her in like, the flower of their youth or whatever, and she refused, and then was cold and lonely years later at 28. then cupid? i think. shoots her with an arrow that makes her desperate for sex with literally anyone. colonna goes out of his way to be racist here, okay 16th century man. her parents decide to marry her off, her husband to be is incredibly old and disgusting, again described in extreme detail, and the implication here i guess is that only a man who’s like, past 70 would ever want to marry an unwed 28 year old. anyway when they go to consummate their union he can’t get it up, and the lesson here is that if a man wants sex, he’s owed it, but when a woman wants it, it absolutely cannot happen unless the man wanted it first.
so yeah polia just falls in love with poliphilo, goes back to the temple where he died in front of her, and like hugs him and he just comes back to life. she bares her breasts, which are called his breasts, because as we all know when a man and a woman love each other very much, the man owns the woman, including her very body. then, (female) acolytes of the temple show up and run them out with stones and stuff because you’re not allowed to be amorous there.
i made a lot of angry faces while reading this section.
a point of inconsistency that’s more like a sexist double standard is that the logic for women submitting to men who love them is that 1. it’s the gods’ will, and 2. they should not fight something that can’t be helped, like who a person falls in love with. first of all, polia pledged herself to diana, wouldn’t it be her will that polia remain a virgin/not in a relationship? second of all. apparently love can be helped, because polia literally just decides to fall in love with poliphilo, and does so, after her nurse tells her to. the lesson here is that men deserve everything they want and women must comply.
okay ive finished it now and its insane like poliphilo truly truly believes it is his right for polia to love him. she is inhuman if she does not. cannot emphasise how awful this was.
also was that part at the end like, cupid shooting her with an arrow to make her fall in love with him? idk i was almost skimming at this point. anyway *compares this with aradiabot and the chip equius gave her*
another thing i was annoyed at was the like. hes so obsessed with paganism and theres litchrally like no mention of christianity, which is bonkers considering the time and place it was written. but like, its all sooooo medieval like such medieval conceptions of roman mythology. not that i know anything about medieval italy but it just feels soooo medieval italian.
okay thats all. crazy fucking book!
well. book 1 of it was. it was so bizarre that had this just been that much, i would have had to have rated this 5/5, bc ive never read anything like it in my life. but then book 2 happened and i was like. oh you are going literally above and beyond in terms of sexism. never have i seen such incel shit. take this rant/recap of part of book 2 i wrote in a word document in a seething rage.
incredibly sexist. women must bend to every whim of men, or they will be punished by the gods.
poliphilo finds polia at her place of worship, where he talks to her at length about how he is so in love with her and that also shes like ruined his life or whatever. the next day he is still fucking there, and talks again at length to her. she is indifferent to him, because she doesn’t fucking know this guy and she doesn’t owe him shit. he just straight up dies in front of her,
she later gets transported by tornado to some forest where she witnesses two naked women tied up dragging a cart and covered in cuts and blood, being whipped by a boy on the cart, assumedly cupid. she then witnesses them being cut up by cupid and then their bodies being consumed by wild animals. she is terrified this whole time, obviously.
she is then transported back to the spot she was taken from. the lesson here is that if you reject a man who professes his undying and frankly disturbing love of you and obsession with you, you deserve to be traumatised by witnessing extreme violence against women.
shaken, polia goes to sleep, where she has a nightmare she is taken by two horrendously ugly and disgusting men (their appearance is discussed in great detail, which i would call almost fetishistic, but this is just how colonna discusses literally everything), who she assumes to be executioners come to take her to the same fate as the women she saw.
she awakes screaming and crying. she asks her nurse for advice, and her nurse tells her a story where a woman had a man profess his love to her in like, the flower of their youth or whatever, and she refused, and then was cold and lonely years later at 28. then cupid? i think. shoots her with an arrow that makes her desperate for sex with literally anyone. colonna goes out of his way to be racist here, okay 16th century man. her parents decide to marry her off, her husband to be is incredibly old and disgusting, again described in extreme detail, and the implication here i guess is that only a man who’s like, past 70 would ever want to marry an unwed 28 year old. anyway when they go to consummate their union he can’t get it up, and the lesson here is that if a man wants sex, he’s owed it, but when a woman wants it, it absolutely cannot happen unless the man wanted it first.
so yeah polia just falls in love with poliphilo, goes back to the temple where he died in front of her, and like hugs him and he just comes back to life. she bares her breasts, which are called his breasts, because as we all know when a man and a woman love each other very much, the man owns the woman, including her very body. then, (female) acolytes of the temple show up and run them out with stones and stuff because you’re not allowed to be amorous there.
i made a lot of angry faces while reading this section.
a point of inconsistency that’s more like a sexist double standard is that the logic for women submitting to men who love them is that 1. it’s the gods’ will, and 2. they should not fight something that can’t be helped, like who a person falls in love with. first of all, polia pledged herself to diana, wouldn’t it be her will that polia remain a virgin/not in a relationship? second of all. apparently love can be helped, because polia literally just decides to fall in love with poliphilo, and does so, after her nurse tells her to. the lesson here is that men deserve everything they want and women must comply.
okay ive finished it now and its insane like poliphilo truly truly believes it is his right for polia to love him. she is inhuman if she does not. cannot emphasise how awful this was.
also was that part at the end like, cupid shooting her with an arrow to make her fall in love with him? idk i was almost skimming at this point. anyway *compares this with aradiabot and the chip equius gave her*
another thing i was annoyed at was the like. hes so obsessed with paganism and theres litchrally like no mention of christianity, which is bonkers considering the time and place it was written. but like, its all sooooo medieval like such medieval conceptions of roman mythology. not that i know anything about medieval italy but it just feels soooo medieval italian.
okay thats all. crazy fucking book!
jkausch's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book in Egypt, while exploring the pyramids. As such I do not have an unbiased view of it. Mostly Orientalism, and incredibly sensuous. The protagonist gets aroused by architecture. One of those books you "should" read, but honestly it may not be necessary to read in full. Even just reading the first few chapters should give you an idea of its significance.
camoverride's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a bit of an enigma -- but not because of the mystery surrounding its author, conception, intended purpose, or the layers of hidden messages embedded inside it (and these mysteries certainly remain). Instead, I think this book is enigmatic because although the quality of the text itself isn't impressive, there's a strange beauty in the way that these words have been embellished (externally) and turned into something larger and more beautiful than what's contained in the text itself. This book is an example of how the weight of time and many fruitless attempts at interpretation can create a work of beauty that is external to the book itself.
thedictionary1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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