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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
dark
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Étant francophone, j’ai lu cette édition en anglais de concert avec la traduction classique de La Mennais, et je dois dire que j’ai trouvée la traduction de Longfellow plus mélodieuse et poétique. Bien que je ne puisse pas la comparer à l’originale, j’aurais tendance à dire qu’entre les deux, elle était supérieure. Je serais toutefois curieuse de parcourir une traduction française plus récente.
Or, perhaps, 3.5. This translation is never less than readable avoids some of the gnarlier twists and turns of (for example) the Hollanders. But it feels somehow workmanlike. But there are enough flashes of insight (St Bernard's prayer in Canto XXXIII of Paradise is stunningly executed) and the expertise with which Dante's complex trains of poetic syllogising are followed through is admirable (and very welcome - equally easy to get lost in the Hollanders at times). I'd still recommend Esolen over this but feel I've gained additional insight into the text by a close reading of Nichol's take.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Què es pot dir, sinó? La Comèdia se'ns presenta com a l'obra literària en epopeia més rellevant de la nostra experiència humana, darrere únicament per L'Odissea. Potser siga aquest ύβρις pseudo europeu que ens impregna en la lectura dels nostres grans clàssics, en titllar-la de la "més rellevant", però els hòmens, els éssers humans, hem perdut les nostres infinites epopeies de pobles oblidats arran de la colonització i destrucció dels nostres veïns.
Hem, doncs, de celebrar aquelles fites que encara ens en romanen, de la grandària intel·lectual humana, a les nostres mans. Si el Popol Vuh és el texte sagrat dels maies, la Comèdia ho és de la població que ha patit sota el cristianisme, que encara cerca de definir-se malgrat ell; Dant troba la seua Beatriu, emperò nosaltres? Qui ens acollirà i ens guiarà envers la Llum i Benestar suprema? Serem sempre ànimes perdudes, o fidels batejades a pesar d'haver estat condemnades? Reflexionem, reflectim-hi, doncs, humans: què ens defineix? No serà pas un texte sagrat, això espere.
No oblidaré pas, però, de fer esment de l'aptament divina traducció feta pel mestre Joan Francesc Mira, a qui espere conèixer en un futur no gaire llunyà per poder congratular (i agraïr) per una versió tan commovedora i enlluernadora.
Hem, doncs, de celebrar aquelles fites que encara ens en romanen, de la grandària intel·lectual humana, a les nostres mans. Si el Popol Vuh és el texte sagrat dels maies, la Comèdia ho és de la població que ha patit sota el cristianisme, que encara cerca de definir-se malgrat ell; Dant troba la seua Beatriu, emperò nosaltres? Qui ens acollirà i ens guiarà envers la Llum i Benestar suprema? Serem sempre ànimes perdudes, o fidels batejades a pesar d'haver estat condemnades? Reflexionem, reflectim-hi, doncs, humans: què ens defineix? No serà pas un texte sagrat, això espere.
No oblidaré pas, però, de fer esment de l'aptament divina traducció feta pel mestre Joan Francesc Mira, a qui espere conèixer en un futur no gaire llunyà per poder congratular (i agraïr) per una versió tan commovedora i enlluernadora.
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Few books can claim dominance within a region's literary canon. Dante Alighieri's "The Divine Comedy" is one of them. Its exquisite poetry sings loudly with melodic perfection within Western literature. For all its artistic brilliance, this is nonetheless a work deeply rooted in the local and the temporal traditions of its origin, unable to fully transcend into the universal realm.
Dante's epic is at its core a travelogue through the medieval conception of afterlife. Traversing through Hell ("Inferno"), the author is faced with an understanding of human corruption away from virtue. In Purgatory ("Purgatorio"), he aims to purify himself of sin in order to achieve the right to enjoy the fruits of living a virtuous life in Paradise ("Paradiso"), which in effect is an encounter with God. This traditional reading of the text celebrates the intended allegory on the route towards salvation, but it does not quite match the actual content, which is more focused on exploring the author’s political worldview, whilst providing a synthesis of the theological thinking of Catholics from its Greco--Roman pagan origins to the supremacy of the church in medieval times over the social and political landscape within the Italian peninsula. Detailed knowledge of Tuscan medieval history is required to fully grasp the setting and the metaphors, making the whole reading experience a little cumbersome for non-specialised audiences. The notes by Robin Kirkpatrick in this edition provide a much-needed background, without falling into the trap of academicism. However, what they don't tackle is that ultimately the reader is faced with Dante's personal friends and foes, rather than with a deep understanding on why these matter in the absolute.
Alighieri starts his journey by accepting his loss within the physical world. Encountering Virgil at the gates of Hell, he endeavours to find clarity on why his life failed in its ambition. Drawing mainly on the myths of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and the philosophical investigations of Aristotle in "Nicomachean Ethics", and, later in the text, "The Bible" and associated theological writings, with a more detailed use of the work of Thomas Aquinas, the author tries to construct a concept of a virtuous life worth living. In doing so, he classifies human failings through the aid of historical beings to exemplify his system of values. The clue to this endeavour is that ultimately this system of values is Dante's own, in which the author is the final decider on who deserves damnation and who achieves adulation. There's no real analysis to this, rather each case is meant as proof to the proposed thesis. By the time we reach Paradise, this method of thinking is challenged by Saint Peter, who questions using the Bible as proof of the authority of the Bible. Dante's response, though celebrated by theologians, is nonetheless unsatisfactory. He accepts that knowledge of the good is bestowed through grace by divine intervention, which makes it tautological if the speaker affirms that the grace was given to them in the first place. This sense of arrogance deeply harms the overall journey, as the author is always a spectator to the truth, and in essence the denouement is expected rather than experienced. The political polemic and the meditations on certain philosophical questions offer a nice reading to a curious reader, but nothing of substance is truly revealed in "The Divine Comedy", outside of the set of ideas that serve as its foundations.
It would be unfair to dismiss this epic on wholly analytical principles. This is still a work of fiction, and Dante's visual flair to construct the spheres of afterlife possesses an incredible visionary beauty. His lyricism flourishes in the descriptions of the realms making the outer worlds appear intimately vivid. Imagination is the source of art, and few literary texts can match the sheer scope that Dante attempted in "The Divine Comedy".
The poetry achieves its highest form of purity in the passages dedicated to love. Akin to Solomon's "Song of Songs", the passion that the author feels for his muse Beatrice is full of harmonious sounds that resonate from the music of the verse. Kirkpatrick deserves genuine praise for how he managed to transform the beauty of Dante's text into the English language, letting the simplicity of everyday speech sing with beauty.
This volume is an excellent celebration of poetry in translation. It is also a solid example of how to make an artwork written in a different place and time understandable to new audiences. The defects are part of the whole, just as the geometry of life in Dante's "Divine Comedy" requires the supreme to be balanced by impurities.
Dante's epic is at its core a travelogue through the medieval conception of afterlife. Traversing through Hell ("Inferno"), the author is faced with an understanding of human corruption away from virtue. In Purgatory ("Purgatorio"), he aims to purify himself of sin in order to achieve the right to enjoy the fruits of living a virtuous life in Paradise ("Paradiso"), which in effect is an encounter with God. This traditional reading of the text celebrates the intended allegory on the route towards salvation, but it does not quite match the actual content, which is more focused on exploring the author’s political worldview, whilst providing a synthesis of the theological thinking of Catholics from its Greco--Roman pagan origins to the supremacy of the church in medieval times over the social and political landscape within the Italian peninsula. Detailed knowledge of Tuscan medieval history is required to fully grasp the setting and the metaphors, making the whole reading experience a little cumbersome for non-specialised audiences. The notes by Robin Kirkpatrick in this edition provide a much-needed background, without falling into the trap of academicism. However, what they don't tackle is that ultimately the reader is faced with Dante's personal friends and foes, rather than with a deep understanding on why these matter in the absolute.
Alighieri starts his journey by accepting his loss within the physical world. Encountering Virgil at the gates of Hell, he endeavours to find clarity on why his life failed in its ambition. Drawing mainly on the myths of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and the philosophical investigations of Aristotle in "Nicomachean Ethics", and, later in the text, "The Bible" and associated theological writings, with a more detailed use of the work of Thomas Aquinas, the author tries to construct a concept of a virtuous life worth living. In doing so, he classifies human failings through the aid of historical beings to exemplify his system of values. The clue to this endeavour is that ultimately this system of values is Dante's own, in which the author is the final decider on who deserves damnation and who achieves adulation. There's no real analysis to this, rather each case is meant as proof to the proposed thesis. By the time we reach Paradise, this method of thinking is challenged by Saint Peter, who questions using the Bible as proof of the authority of the Bible. Dante's response, though celebrated by theologians, is nonetheless unsatisfactory. He accepts that knowledge of the good is bestowed through grace by divine intervention, which makes it tautological if the speaker affirms that the grace was given to them in the first place. This sense of arrogance deeply harms the overall journey, as the author is always a spectator to the truth, and in essence the denouement is expected rather than experienced. The political polemic and the meditations on certain philosophical questions offer a nice reading to a curious reader, but nothing of substance is truly revealed in "The Divine Comedy", outside of the set of ideas that serve as its foundations.
It would be unfair to dismiss this epic on wholly analytical principles. This is still a work of fiction, and Dante's visual flair to construct the spheres of afterlife possesses an incredible visionary beauty. His lyricism flourishes in the descriptions of the realms making the outer worlds appear intimately vivid. Imagination is the source of art, and few literary texts can match the sheer scope that Dante attempted in "The Divine Comedy".
The poetry achieves its highest form of purity in the passages dedicated to love. Akin to Solomon's "Song of Songs", the passion that the author feels for his muse Beatrice is full of harmonious sounds that resonate from the music of the verse. Kirkpatrick deserves genuine praise for how he managed to transform the beauty of Dante's text into the English language, letting the simplicity of everyday speech sing with beauty.
This volume is an excellent celebration of poetry in translation. It is also a solid example of how to make an artwork written in a different place and time understandable to new audiences. The defects are part of the whole, just as the geometry of life in Dante's "Divine Comedy" requires the supreme to be balanced by impurities.
Al final leí bien el infierno, a medias el purgatorio y por encima el cielo.
Imposible negar que es una obra maestra, no podría ser menos con la cantidad de trabajo que metió Dante en la escritura. Siento que realmente logra insertar una magnitud tremenda de simbolismos, interpretaciones y reflexiones en cada verso.
El gran problema, para la lectura contemporanea, es la cantidad de personajes que a lo largo del tiempo se hicieron irrelevantes. Cuando Dante usa personajes de la mitología todo parece tener mucho sentido, pero cuando empieza a hablar de personas contemporáneas a él se nos pierde mucho del mensaje. Igualmente, no es un libro para leerse en un mes, ni en un año, debería leerse con lentitud y detencion, como fue su escritura.
Imposible negar que es una obra maestra, no podría ser menos con la cantidad de trabajo que metió Dante en la escritura. Siento que realmente logra insertar una magnitud tremenda de simbolismos, interpretaciones y reflexiones en cada verso.
El gran problema, para la lectura contemporanea, es la cantidad de personajes que a lo largo del tiempo se hicieron irrelevantes. Cuando Dante usa personajes de la mitología todo parece tener mucho sentido, pero cuando empieza a hablar de personas contemporáneas a él se nos pierde mucho del mensaje. Igualmente, no es un libro para leerse en un mes, ni en un año, debería leerse con lentitud y detencion, como fue su escritura.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm happy I read The Divine Comedy for its importance in the wider literary world, however it was so infuriatingly dry and lecture like throughout. Reaching the end of Inferno alone felt like an utter slog, and it's categorically the most entertaining section of The Divine Comedy. Happy to have it ticked off but I'll never return
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes