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Jun. 17th, 2019 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darchildreYesterday, Because of Reasons*, I was seized with the urge to reread Dante's Commedia. Because it is summer and I have no attention span for actual reading, I have downloaded the audiobook of the Hollander translation of The Inferno.
While I am in no way ungrateful for the college course that introduced me to Dante - I would almost certainly never have gotten through his work, let alone developed an affection for it, without it - it is amazing how different it is to experience the poem on my own, instead of as a focus of academic study. Now, I get to read at my own pace and feel my own feelings about the text, instead of constantly having in the back of my mind the worry that I have to produce reactions that are intelligent and worth discussing and writing papers about. Reading on my own may not be as intellectually rigorous or whatever, but it's a much more pleasant and satisfying experience.
(Not that I would mind discussing the poem with people. It's just that, right now, my reactions are more on the level of "God, Ciacco in Canto VI is so sad!" and "Heh, Dante's petty grudge against Filippo Argenti is hilarious." I'm liveblogging a bit over on tumblr if you want that level of reaction.)
There are, alas, no audiobooks of the Hollander translations of Purgatorio or Paradiso. I understand why this is - I can't imagine there's anywhere near the level of demand - but I still feel a little bitter about it. Hopefully, by the time I get to the end of The Inferno, I will be over this bit of summer malaise and the momentum will carry into actually reading the rest.
*Good Omens = thinking about angels and demons = thinking about the structure of Heaven and Hell = thinking about the Commedia.
While I am in no way ungrateful for the college course that introduced me to Dante - I would almost certainly never have gotten through his work, let alone developed an affection for it, without it - it is amazing how different it is to experience the poem on my own, instead of as a focus of academic study. Now, I get to read at my own pace and feel my own feelings about the text, instead of constantly having in the back of my mind the worry that I have to produce reactions that are intelligent and worth discussing and writing papers about. Reading on my own may not be as intellectually rigorous or whatever, but it's a much more pleasant and satisfying experience.
(Not that I would mind discussing the poem with people. It's just that, right now, my reactions are more on the level of "God, Ciacco in Canto VI is so sad!" and "Heh, Dante's petty grudge against Filippo Argenti is hilarious." I'm liveblogging a bit over on tumblr if you want that level of reaction.)
There are, alas, no audiobooks of the Hollander translations of Purgatorio or Paradiso. I understand why this is - I can't imagine there's anywhere near the level of demand - but I still feel a little bitter about it. Hopefully, by the time I get to the end of The Inferno, I will be over this bit of summer malaise and the momentum will carry into actually reading the rest.
*Good Omens = thinking about angels and demons = thinking about the structure of Heaven and Hell = thinking about the Commedia.
