Dante

As you know, if you have read this blog before, I love Classic literature. Over the years, I have gone back and reread many tales that were spoiled for me by over zealous and boringly picky teachers and, inevitably, I fall in love with those stories.

One such tale is Dante's Divine Comedy. We no longer read long, epic poetry. I know that I have difficulty adjusting to that form, but it is well worth the effort. It is , of course, a 3 part story, Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise, and it tells of Dante's vision of a descent into Hell, and reemergence into Purgatory and Heaven. On the first 2 parts he is accompanied by the Roman poet Virgil. viewed as a virtuous and condemned to a not unpleasant after life but denied heaven since he was born before Christ. On the last part of the journey, He is led by Beatrice, a woman of supreme beauty and virtue.

Along the way, he meets and chats with many beings, some mythic and some the souls of dead people, famous and infamous. All tell there tales, many pathetic, some surprisingly funny. Dante uses the tale to pick at many of his enemies and is a biting satirist.

The books are a challenge. That said, they are worth the effort. Do not make the mistake many make and just read the Inferno you will miss a lot if you do, One word of warning. The description in the first 2 parts are a bit on the disgusting side. How much depends on just which translation you read. All of them are pretty good. I like John Ciardi's because it is very blunt. He did not try to make Dante's words overly pretty, since the work was done in Italian and written in a common usage style.

Read the books and suspend your disbeliefs and you will be taken on a grand, if somewhat disturbing, ride. .