/lit/ reads the Commedia by Dante Alighieri

[Anonymous No.21339113]

Previous thread is dead and OP is nowhere to be seen. No matter, I shall take take his mantle and guide this pilgrimage like Virgil.

We read 3 cantos every day, except the first day which is 4 cantos. Today we focus on the 8th to 10th cantos but if any anon wants to join us and comment on previous cantos he is welcome to do so.

I should say that this is my first time reading Dante so I am not particularly knowledgable. If any anon has more experience with his work, he is more than welcome to share his wisdom with us.

8th canto : More obvious fanfiction by dante with one of his personal ennemies drowning in the styx and Virgil praising him. The trip to the city with the flames lighting up from afar and the many devils appearing is very kino though. Kind of feels like enrering a new dark souls area.

9th canto : Virgil speaks about the circle of Judas, I know this is supposed to be the deepest pit of hell. The Furies appear from afar in a terryfing display. Would also be very kino in a dark souls game. The people burning in their tumbs is a striking picture.

10th canto: So the Epicurians are burning huh ? I had no idea they were considered this badly by medieval christians but it makes sense. I have no idea who tf Farinata is and I am too tired to research it; Probably another italian political ennemy. Some more namedropping of ennemies burning in hell, Dante was a based /lit/ autist. The prophecy of the dude in the tumb was pretty kino. Seeing the future but forgetting the present leads, it seems.

Don't let this one die too fast again, I would like to check the answers when I wake up tommorow without having to use the archive.

[Anonymous No.21339162]

>>21339113
We don’t read. Get it through your head.

[Anonymous No.21339173]

>>21339162
Last thread was interesting, if short lived. If OP and a few dudes come back we can keep this going, and maybe even grab other anons alon the way.

https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/

If anyone is interested this is a good ressource. Don't hesitate to comment even if youhave only read 1 canto. The more, the merrier.

[Anonymous No.21339180]

>>21339113
When I read it I thought it was okay, but I always think back on it, so I was wrong. I heard a theory why Dante was such a douche about the suicides turning into trees because the reason he was in the forest in the beginning was to kill himself. Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.21339925]

This line Virgil said in Canto 7 was pretty badass:
>Peace, you wolf of Hell. Choke back your bile and let its venom blister your own throat.
I really like how competent Virgil is while Dante just seems like a overly emotional mess who just can't stay still and faints (also keeps calling Virgil his Master, all-knowing Guide, etc)

[Anonymous No.21340037]

>>21339162
t. defeatist who's contributing to stupid frogposter thread #865348980945 for the umpteenth time
>>21339113
I'd like to catch up, but I was in he middle of reading the Temptation of Saint Anthony and had work. I'll read today's (yesterday's as it's 12 in the morning where I am) chapters. IIRC OP said jannies were looking to ban him for off-topic threads (which is strange since the only threads he's been spamming before were the Gargantua and Pantagruel reading group invitations). This board is so fucked

[Anonymous No.21340103]

>>21339113
The problem is op. You faggots can't format your posts correctly to catch people's eyes.

[Anonymous No.21340105]

>here we see Dante’s disdain for moral neutrality and pusillanimity (a disdain admired by Martin Luther King, Jr.);

[Anonymous No.21340210]

Disorderly list of things I want to talk about or understand better

Inferno Canto 3
>7 Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
>8 se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
M
>BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS
>WERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY.
L
>Before me there were no created things,
>Only eterne, and I eternal last.
Why does the gate say this? The notes say
>The message here regarding the eternity of Hell is a theological one ... The eternity of Hell was debated by early theologians before being “settled” by St. Augustine.
but this doesn't seem like a full explanation

>20 con lieto volto, ond’ io mi confortai,
>21 mi mise dentro a le segrete cose.
M
>his hand upon my own, to comfort me,
>he drew me in among the hidden things.
A freer translation
>He ushered me within the secret things
This obviously has an esoteric meaning. But what is Dante's direct inspiration? It's similar to the katabasis (down-going, to the underworld) of many ancient mysteries as they are reported to us, particularly the Orphic mysteries.

>the "neutral" who aren't damned enough to go to hell or blessed enough to go to heaven (30-60~)
This reminds me of the Button-Moulder in Peer Gynt. But it also makes me think of the allegorical, metaphysical nature of Hell/Heaven in Dante, since where you end up and where you go is decided by your soul's state. The notes say this is proved by this passage:
>and they are eager for the river crossing
>because celestial justice spurs them on,
>so that their fear is turned into desire.
They are moving through the metaphysical hierarchy according to their own will to be where their soul belongs, desiring justice because it's good even if it is painful. It's very neoplatonic:

Inferno Canto 4
>103 Così andammo infino a la lumera,
>104 parlando cose che ’l tacere è bello,
>105 sì com’ era ’l parlar colà dov’ era.
M:
>So did we move along and toward the light,
>talking of things about which silence here
>is just as seemly as our speech was there.
Is this another esoteric reference? These things can only be talked about when in the higher metaphysical state

>129 e solo, in parte, vidi ’l Saladino.
Interesting Saladin is included

>141 Tulïo e Lino e Seneca morale;
Interesting that Italians around 1300 called Cicero by his nomen like Victorians did, I would have guessed that was an English thing

>147 che molte volte al fatto il dir vien meno.
>M: what’s told is often less than the event.
More indicators of esoteric insight that can only be imperfectly described in language later

What is the symbolism of the 7 walls (7 is a magical number in hermeticism, alchemy etc.) and the "company of six dividing in two?"

Inferno Canto 5
>23 vuolsi così colà dove si puote
>24 ciò che si vuole
Second time this has been said, apparently it's well known in Italian
https://seamussweeney.net/2018/02/28/where-will-and-power-are-one-dantean-memes/
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuolsi_cos%C3%AC_col%C3%A0_dove_si_puote

[Anonymous No.21340281]

Dore's illustrations
https://weirditaly.com/2014/04/04/33-amazing-dante-s-inferno-illustrations-by-gustave-dore/
This site seems to have the most in the highest quality and proper order

[Anonymous No.21340422]

Inferno Canto 8
>86 E ’l savio mio maestro fece segno
>87 di voler lor parlar segretamente.
M:
>And my wise master made a sign that said
>he wanted to speak secretly to them.
Secret signs only understandable by spirits of the dead "native" to the other world

>97 «O caro duca mio, che più di sette
>98 volte m’hai sicurtà renduta
M:
>“O my dear guide, who more than seven times
>has given back to me my confidence
Magic seven

>109 Così sen va, e quivi m’abbandona
>110 lo dolce padre, e io rimagno in forse,
>111 che Sì e No nel capo mi tenciona.
"I remain in doubt, while Yes and No contend in my head" is a cool line

Inferno Canto 9

After the Erinyes and Medusa, and Virgil covering Dante's eyes:
>61 O voi ch’avete li ’ntelletti sani,
>62 mirate la dottrina che s’asconde
>63 sotto ’l velame de li versi strani.
M:
>O you possessed of sturdy intellects,
>observe the teaching that is hidden here
>beneath the veil of verses so obscure.
The commentary for the episode with Medusa and the angel is good, it's about how Vergil shows his pagan limitations by having been compelled by the sorceress and in believing in Medusa's power, but the angel can simply walk casually in and tap on the gate and defeat all the demons and dispel all pagan fears

[Anonymous No.21340850]

Gonna bump with the timeline OP posted last thread

1st- 1-4
2nd- 5-7
3rd- 8-10
4th-11-13
5th-14-6
6th- 17-19
7th- 20-22
8th- 23-25
9th- 26-28
10th- 29-31
11th- 32-33

[Anonymous No.21341957]

I was wondering does anyone else have an illustrated edition?
Really appreciate having them next to the text. My book even comes with a 1-2 line excerpt under each illustration that relates to the scene depicted

[Anonymous No.21342248]

>>21341957
I do. I have the fancy Franklin Library edition, with the Gustave Dore engravings.

[Anonymous No.21342320]

>>21342248
Nice, I have pic related.
It's clothbound has those same carvings on almost every other page.

[Anonymous No.21343068]

Bump before I go to sleep, so OP doesn't get sad when the thread 404s

[Anonymous No.21343129]

>>21339180
>the reason he was in the forest in the beginning was to kill himself.
We're usually taught that the dark forest is sin

[Anonymous No.21344450]

>>21339113
Don't go

[Anonymous No.21344456]

>>21344450
Just let it die, nobody in /lit/ reads. threads like this are useless.

[Anonymous No.21344578]

Oh, coincidentally I've been reading it for a while, am currently at Purgatorio. It's a translation though.

[Anonymous No.21344889]

>>21344456
I and at least on other person ITT reads
Also having a thread up about a book up is great motivation for reading

[Anonymous No.21345683]

>>21339113
Finals aren't showing any mercy, so I'll have to catch up with this later. Might even have to drop reading. Already read the Comedy around Easter this year anyway and after switching translations and reading some excerpts in Italian I still prefer strongly prefer Blake (as far as visionary poets go) and Paradise Lost (as far as religious epics go).

[Anonymous No.21346010]

Dante's encounters with 13th century figures are really making it seem alive to me. I want to read that Chris Wickham book, Sleepwalking into a New World.

[Anonymous No.21346193]

>>21339113
I have read the english edition, translated by mandelbaum and I can very much recommend it.
For me the inferno is the most exciting part of the divine comedy, but it is still amazing after reaching the last circle.

I visited Paris and especially The Musée Rodin after finishing the book. His work was based a lot around the divine comedy. The statue the thinker is also made after aligiehri. There is a lot of art around the divine comedy recommended checking out.

>>21342320
Ich habe gerade die leseprobe gelesen und fande die Übersetzung nicht gut. Falls dir das alte Englisch liegt kann ich nur das empfehlen. Falls es dir bereits gefällt wie es geschrieben ist, well keep it.

[Anonymous No.21346905]

>>21340281
Dore is the GOAT but Blake's illustrations are also quite interesting

[Anonymous No.21347710]

>>21339113
Where can I find a decent quality edition of Hollander's translation of the Comedy? The only ones I've seen are the one shilled by Barns & Noble and the Canterbury Classics, neither of which are particularly good. Paperbacks are welcome

[Anonymous No.21347805]

If you don't quote Dante in the original Italian, you're a pseud; If you quote Dante in the original Italian, you're also pseud; If you quote Dante in the original Italian or don't quote Dante in the original Italian, you're a pseud; whether you quote Dante in the original Italian or don't quote Dante in the original Italian, you're a pseud.

[Anonymous No.21348703]

Nobody here fucking reads, stop making these threads.