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Dante's Inferno

Schattengestalt

Schattengestalt

New Member
I'm reading dante's inferno, the pinsky translation, and I just wanted to see what everyone thought of it.

I'm reading it for school (I chose it instead of milton's paradise lost) and, surprise surprise! I'm the only one in my class who chose it. I just wanted to start a bit of scholarly discussion on the poem since there won't be any in class.

as a meager kick off question, since I'm only in canto III:

I spoke with my english teacher about it and she seems to think the whole comedy is simply dante overcoming depression. I can see that, but I don't believe it's that simple. any thoughts?

and please include the translator if you quote!
 
I'm gonna read Dante's Inferno soon, on my own, so when I'm done, I'll pm you. Unless, you're already done by then....then oopsie!
 
yay! by all means, pm me! I was beginning to think that this was a dead end subject! I'm in the 19th canto, so I'm certainly not done. happy reading! well... maybe not 'happy,' but enjoy Dante!
 
Interesting that everyone chose to read the longer Paradise Lost instead of the rather short Inferno. It usually works the opposite :D
 
Hey, I'm reading Inferno as well, though it's taking me a while (I'm reading it alongside other books over the period of about six months). I think the main problem with Dante's Comedy is that it is so easily lost in translation - the beauty of Milton's words is self-evident and clear in Paradise Lost, whereas one relies completely on the translator to bring the beauty of Dante's words to life. Without reading a variety of translations, or else reading it in the original Italian (a difficult job even for a native speaker), it is difficult to tell what exactly the writing style is like, or to have a pure enjoyment of the poem, in my opinion. It is very difficult to translate, as it uses terza rima rhyme scheme, something which is not easy to write in English! And in any modern translation, you lose the sense of the time it was written and the very revolutionary idea of the use of Italian rather than Latin, which is almost impossible to achieve in translation.
Out of interest, which translation are you reading?
 
I'm not familiar with the work, unfortunately, although it's been on my TBR list for years. I don't know if you know this, but during Dante's time, comedy didn't have the same meaning as now. A comedy was a work of fiction that ended happily, while a tragedy was one that ended sadly.

Coincidentally, how do you like it so far? Would you reccommend it to a fan of Shakespeare who is obsessed with supernatural stories?
 
As a fan of supernatural stories, who also appreciates older texts like Shakespeare, I think it's definitely likely you would enjoy the Divine Comedy.
 
Schattengestalt said:
I spoke with my english teacher about it and she seems to think the whole comedy is simply dante overcoming depression. I can see that, but I don't believe it's that simple. any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Well, I think that depends on your definition of "comedy". Traditionally, the definition usually hovers around a young protagonist in conflict with an old authority.

My personal take on this is that the comedy in "The Divine Comedy" is that our hero (Dante) is at risk of falling prey to the vices (allegorically shown as the Lion, Leopard and She-wolf), and possibly even contemplating suicide (he wanders, lost, through a dark wood, which could easily be a reference to the forest of suicide in canto XIII). Ergo, imo at least, the 'comedy' lies in his conflict with the conventions that will govern his immortal soul. He fights these vices, and eventually climbs the mountain of purgatory to reach the heavens, thus defeating his foe.

again... a completely personal take on it. i never really studied it though, just read it. i could easily be completely off the mark.

in case you were interested, by the way, a couple of nutty german lads (andreas ammer and FM Einheit) did a radioshow based on the Inferno many moons ago. It's far from pop music, but definatly a great take on the poem.
Ammer & Einheit: Radio Inferno
 
Idril Silmaure said:
Hey, I'm reading Inferno as well, though it's taking me a while (I'm reading it alongside other books over the period of about six months). I think the main problem with Dante's Comedy is that it is so easily lost in translation - the beauty of Milton's words is self-evident and clear in Paradise Lost, whereas one relies completely on the translator to bring the beauty of Dante's words to life. Without reading a variety of translations, or else reading it in the original Italian (a difficult job even for a native speaker), it is difficult to tell what exactly the writing style is like, or to have a pure enjoyment of the poem, in my opinion. It is very difficult to translate, as it uses terza rima rhyme scheme, something which is not easy to write in English! And in any modern translation, you lose the sense of the time it was written and the very revolutionary idea of the use of Italian rather than Latin, which is almost impossible to achieve in translation.
Out of interest, which translation are you reading?
Click to expand...

I must definately agree - which is why I prefer Paradise lost, because i can appreciate its beauty. I actually have a nice translation of the inferno but Alen Mandelbaum that is a dual language book, and if you are at least a bit familiar with romance languages, you'l be able to read the english and understand what's what in the italian, and then you can get a sense of the beauty of the language-because it truly is beautiful.
 
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