Is Inferno worth the read? I tried before but got somewhat lost in the archaic language and had to stop.
Did you read in original language?
>>7557713
Translated, obviously, but yes
>translations
>>7557717
>Translated, obviously
laughing-girls.jpg
It's overrated but worth reading just so that you can understand "purgatorio" better.
>>7557717
Well I have no idea about modern italian translations but you could try reading it in english. Mandelbaum is a pretty easy to understand english translation you might want to give a try.
>>7557742
>learning the language of butt sex to read a seven hundred year old book
yah, nah, you're a cunt.
Read about Dante before you read Dante.
It's very difficult to grasp his importance on your own. For my part, the more I read about classical and Biblical ideas the more shocked and awe-struck I am by his thought: monumentally creative.
Bertrand Russell states in the intro to History of Western Philosophy that he achieved a synthesis between the classical and medieval worldviews, which was at that point in time a monumental achievement and inaugurated an era of intellectual thought that reigned supreme for over a century.
also I enjoyed Inferno the least. You should really read the whole Comedy. Purgatorio is filled with a ton of just-plain-good advice for living and self transforming. Paradiso has some seriously awesome mystical, borderline psychedelic language that blew me away.
Don't get hung up too much on the details and the footnotes. There are scholars who spend their whole careers on Dante. To be honest it makes the most sense to read Dante after Homer and the Bible but it still "works" even if you're not bringing anything to the table. It has a novelistic quality (in terms of a clear linear theme of moral ascension) and some of the imagery withstands translation and can be appreciated by fifth graders.
>>7557745
>Overrated
Oh? And who are you to say, little poet, little critic, tiny man on 4chan? Humble yourself, you look like a fool.
>>7557711
Every time I see this picture it looks like there is a rat trying to hide inside his hat.
>>7557711
Read it twice. I also found myself feeling that way, so I skimmed it really quickly the first time, then I came back to it a few years later and found it much clearer. It is worth the read.
Notes are all you need. I recommend Ciardi.
>anon makes detailed guide
>everyone still only reads mandelbaum and ciardi
baka senpai
>>7558508
I prefer my Longfellow translation, even after reading a bit of my friends mandelbaum.
>>7557959
this was a good post
The Sinclair translation isn't particularly fantastic but it has a nice commentary on each chapter and got the job done. Most people I've spoken to about it have recommended if you want to get the most out of it you either read it in the original language or read multiple translations.
read the whole comedy if you can, maybe let yourself read other stuff while you're doing it but try to get through the whole thing if you're at least interested in inferno
read the dante gabriel rossetti translation of la vita nuova as well. pre-divine comedy dante
How dumb do you have to be to read Dante in translation? Jesus Christ. . .
>>7558508
The guide itself recommends mandelbaum and ciardi
>>7559363
>curbing any kind of enthusiasm for Dante to prove intellectual superiority
people like you disgust me
I did read it in the original volgare in high school, and I still remember it fondly. It's an extremely beautiful book and while I do not care, for the most part, for the references to the canon (and really there are a fuckton. Homer and the Bible and Cicero and the Liber Scalae...) the way Dante creates a world of narratives is quite peerless (although, thinking about it now, I do see a few similarities with Basho's Narrow Road to the Deep North). I echo other anons' statement and advise you to read it whole, especially Paradiso for it is the mkst lyrical and beautiful of the three.
I don't get what's so hard to read about it. Are you not familiar with the Aeneid or Aeneas? I understand 4chan is full of memes, but Virgil is a writer you cannot pass up.
>>7559347
I found the Sinclair translation to be a little prosaic.
>>7560138
ayyyy lmao! great joke fellow e/lit/e! upboats all around!
>>7558350
To me it kind of looks like he's wearing some dope headphones
>>7557745
>overrated
Beautiful verses, diverse symbolisms, scathing critique against the politicians and clerics of his time and his town; all the travel through inferno, purgatorio and paradiso can be interpreted as the search of Beatrice's love, hundreds of references to classic literature , the bible and the medieval philosophy ;a exposition of christian dogma......
And you claim It's overrated..
>>7560138
by "got the job done" that's what I was trying to get at, it's clear and descriptive but sacrifices the style
I have the Kirkpatrick version with the original Latin and English, and enjoyed it well enough. I don't know how accurate it is, because I'm more familiar with classical Latin than Dante's.
>>7560723
>original Latin
English is disgusting language desu, its too economical, very bad for poetry. I read Dante in polish, ad it was far better, polish has always multiple words that means same, unlike english. English is shit language for poetry, and shit language overrall
>>7562362
How many multiple ways can you say "I fixed your broken toilet, sir, thank you for the opportunity to earn a living"?
>>7562374
>english drunkard think he could insult other nations
Fuck off you scum
>>7557711
>one of the greatest works
>worth reading?
topkek
>read it when was 18 years old in my second language (english), reading sloppy, not caring much about how it was written/references, liked it.
>read it again at 21, in my first language (brazilian portuguese) after getting into philosophy, the holy bible and some great christianity literature, taking my time to study the references, enjoying every verse, fucking masterpiece, does not even seem I read the same book
