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matthewb 's review for:
Dante's Divine Comedy
by William R. Cook, Ronald B. Herzman
I listened to an audiobook of [b:The Divine Comedy|6656|The Divine Comedy|Dante Alighieri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1624535952l/6656._SY75_.jpg|809248] a few years ago, and while I got something from it so much passed me by because I wasn't cross-referencing with notes that give essential context to much of the interactions in the vast poem.
This lecture series was a wonderful way to really dive into Dante's masterpiece. The coupled delivery of two professors alternating every minute or two was very unusual for a lecture series, but it worked surprisingly well, as it gave the course a kind of dialogical feel. They gave important background information on Dante and his exile, which influenced the poem significantly, and they were able to place many of the (now obscure) characters in the world of Dante's Florence.
There were some neat details I would never have noticed if I was reading it alone, like how certain cantos are linked between the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, i.e. they treat of the same subject matter but from a different perspective, and also how some families have members in all three locations. The lecturers also explain how the relationship between Dante and Beatrice is a sort of sanctified re-telling of Virgil's story of Aeneas and Dido. The explanation of these kinds of classical references along with the geopolitical background information and the light shed on the way the distinct parts of the poem are interwoven was the major strength of the lecture series.
I am inspired now to go and find a bi-lingual version and step through the poem canto by canto, maybe over the course of several months. There is a lot of wisdom bound up in the poetry, and Dante has a lot to say about virtues and vices and how to order your spiritual life in an appropriate way. The poem is extraordinary in both its vastness and artistic completeness and one could do worse than investing a part of one's life trying to plumb its depths.
This lecture series was a wonderful way to really dive into Dante's masterpiece. The coupled delivery of two professors alternating every minute or two was very unusual for a lecture series, but it worked surprisingly well, as it gave the course a kind of dialogical feel. They gave important background information on Dante and his exile, which influenced the poem significantly, and they were able to place many of the (now obscure) characters in the world of Dante's Florence.
There were some neat details I would never have noticed if I was reading it alone, like how certain cantos are linked between the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, i.e. they treat of the same subject matter but from a different perspective, and also how some families have members in all three locations. The lecturers also explain how the relationship between Dante and Beatrice is a sort of sanctified re-telling of Virgil's story of Aeneas and Dido. The explanation of these kinds of classical references along with the geopolitical background information and the light shed on the way the distinct parts of the poem are interwoven was the major strength of the lecture series.
I am inspired now to go and find a bi-lingual version and step through the poem canto by canto, maybe over the course of several months. There is a lot of wisdom bound up in the poetry, and Dante has a lot to say about virtues and vices and how to order your spiritual life in an appropriate way. The poem is extraordinary in both its vastness and artistic completeness and one could do worse than investing a part of one's life trying to plumb its depths.