/lit/ - Literature

are you italian?

>>3342093
es cool and doesnt afraid of anything

>>3342093

10/10 would read again. Purgatorio too. Paradiso... not so much.

>>3342101
I always thought that Purgatorio would be the most boring of the three stages. I was wrong.

I read Inferno pretty thoroughly, it was interesting. I sped through Purgatorio and Paradiso, I think I finished them in about three hours each, they weren't as interesting and I didn't really understand most of the book, mostly because of all the references that I didn't get. I plan on reading Paradise Lost, Metamorphosis, The Aeneid, Shakespeare's works and such and then maybe I'll read it again since I will understand more of all the references (I had the Wordsworth Classics of World Literature edition, translated by Henry Francis Cary, and it has about 120 pages of the translator's notes, explaining the origin of all references and names and alike), but I really didn't enjoy it all that much.
And I'm not a native English speaker, so there was a lot of words that I didn't understand, so that most likely a reason why I couldn't really enjoy the book.

I'm currently reading The Portrait of Dorian Gray which I am enjoying it much more.

It's pretty funny.

Overrated piece of shit.

>>3342128
You are not in a position to make that judgment

>>3342101
>>3342108
>>3342113
He asked only about the Inferno stage.

>>3342113
> anon really? three hours?

Anyway I think that if you spend the required time, each cantica is great. But of course I see myself and my feelings reflected in some characters or descriptions, and these are the ones I'm more "attached" to.
For example I love Canto III, because of Manfredi.

I turned me tow'rds him, and looked at him closely;
Blond was he, beautiful, and of noble aspect,
But one of his eyebrows had a blow divided.

When with humility I had disclaimed
E'er having seen him, "Now behold!" he said,
And showed me high upon his breast a wound.

Then said he with a smile: "I am Manfredi,
The grandson of the Empress Costanza;
Therefore, when thou returnest, I beseech thee

Go to my daughter beautiful, the mother
Of Sicily's honour and of Aragon's,
And the truth tell her, if aught else be told.

After I had my body lacerated
By these two mortal stabs, I gave myself
Weeping to Him, who willingly doth pardon.

Horrible my iniquities had been;
But Infinite Goodness hath such ample arms,
That it receives whatever turns to it.


What part do you like most? Sorry for my english, I'm italian. Glad to help if you have any questions about dante.

>>3342159
*canto III of purgatory, of course

>>3342113
why did you read it in english? It isn't even the original language! wtf

>>3342170
ahaha come on you need months to learn basic italian and months to approach to dante's language

its cool

>>3342170
lol

Dante was an edgy, pretentious, hipster hack.

>>3342159
To be honest, I don't have a favourite part. I had troubles really "getting into" the book, and most of the poetical meaning was lost on me. Most likely since I couldn't really understand it. I am Swedish and I have only recently really started to read, and though my English vocabulary is in my opinion, very good, I still am not familiar with the style in which Dante's Divine Comedy is written in, even though it's a translation.

I can give you an example, here's an excerpt from my edition of the book, the same canto that you quoted:

"My sins were horrible, but so wide arms
Hath goodness infinite, that it receives
All who turn to it. Had this text divine
Been of Cosenza's shepherd better scanned,
Who then by Clement on my hunt was set,
Yet at the bridge's head my bones had lain,
Near Benevento, by the heavy mole
Protected; but the rain now drenches them,
And the wind drives, out of the kingdom's bounds,
Far as the stream of Verde, where, with lights
Extinguished, he removed them from their bed."

I can't really "understand" it as a whole. I suspect I just need to read more and improve my English.

>>3342196
Why did you read it in English? Aren't there Swedish translations?

I got bored at the start of Paradise and stopped.
Milton > Dante.

There's a quote (possibly by a Spaniard) in a condescending tone about how the British are too fond of Paradise Lost and even consider it Biblical canon; does anyone know what I'm talking about?

>>3342203
Not British, but I can see how they might do that because not only is it written in English, it really does provide some very deep insights on the subject.

3deep5me

>>3342201
I read everything in English. I want to improve my knowledge of the English language since I most definitely will move out of Sweden after I'm done with my education.
Besides, there's more potential and depth to the English language, I mean you have words like "betwixt", "forsooth", "thus", "hearken", and alike. Everything becomes to bland in Swedish, since like I said, there's no real "depth" to the language, it's just simple.

>>3342216
>mfw I saw my first (ever) praise of the English language

>>3342203
hah, your loss

>>3342228
Well I'm sure there are people who are more knowledgeable of the Swedish language than me, who would be glad to dispute my opinion. But since my education of the Swedish language is only at a high-school level, I will firmly hold my opinion for the time being, but maybe I will read more Swedish works, like Strindberg's.
So much to read...

>>3342196
Shortly:

His sins were horrible but God forgave him, cause He forgives everyone who repents. But Cosenza's shepherd thought differently, so brought Manfredi's sinful bones outside the city, and left them without grave.

Anyway, without notes, many references are cryptic even for the Italian reader, so skipping them compromises easily the understanding.

>>3342257
Yeah I can understand the text in bold strokes, like what you quoted, but some of it just leaves me confused.
I should probably give it another read, but I will post-pone that for a year or so when my English has improved. My goal is to read atleast one book a week this year, which is a major improvement compared to the grand total of eight books I read last year.

>>3342228
ahahah yep

>>3342273
Yes, it would be better for you. I'm doing quite the same thing. do you have steam or something like that?

> inb4 >>>/soc/

>>3342228

English is a fairly sturdy language.

Not all that efficient (see: Asian languages), but there's not much English can't describe.

>>3342302
Sure I do, here's my profile.

>>3342228

communicating is about being able to express the complexity and randomness that we see in life, being able to order the inflexibly chaotic. Therefore, one tends to need a language that is chaotic itself. A language that is quite flexible with an appropriate amount left to subtext and a great deal of connotative diversity.

English is the only language that I know of to fit this description adequately. I've learned Japanese, Arabic, and German to at least intermediate levels and Arabic is the only thing that comes close to have the communicative power that English has.

Fuck you. Stop trying to be so edgy