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| Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark.... |
The Inferno is the story of how one man (Dante) is guided through hell by a famous poet named Virgil. From what I have read so far he is not enjoying his experience at all and he is only a spectator. Now I know this is kind of an interesting choice for a book given the subject matter and the difficulty in reading 14th century epic poetry, but bear with me. I follow a show called Mad Men, which I consider to be the most well written show of all time, and after seeing the show's main character Don Draper reading and quoting passages from the book I felt compelled to read it and understand it myself. Don Draper himself is going through a bit of hell right now in the show, and there has been a constant tone of death felt throughout this season. By reading this book not only have I gained some insight into my favorite show, but I have also gained some personal treasure from it, much like when I read the scriptures. Two hours well spent. My favorite passage from today:
"Thy soul attainted is with cowardice,
Which many times a man encumbers so,
It turns him back from honored enterprise,
As false sight doth a beast, when he is shy."
Canto II: 45-48
After spending a couple of hours going over the terms and a few more reading and another 2 hours writing my post, I've decided I need to get a lap top so I can sit outside and do some of this work! You had a good idea! From now on I will at least do my reading outside. Thanks for the tip! Can't wait to hear more about The Inferno, it sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Dante's inferno. And your choice for reading it makes me laugh, particularly the picture following your comment on how it isn't poolside reading.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't mind, I have an odd suggestion for you to read perhaps after you have finished? One of my favorite authors is Jodi Picoult, I've read everything she has ever written. She has one novel called The Tenth Circle in which a father is going through his own personal hell to find his daughter. The cool part of the book is where she has teamed up with a graphic novelist to write Dante's inferno into a graphic novel with segments placed at the beginning of each chapter.
That book sounds awesome I'll have to check it out after I have finished reading Dante.
DeleteI read the Inferno last Spring for my Classical Civilization 201 class and loved it. I like how he interacts with the characters in the different circles and learns their stories and why they are where they are.
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