Dante's Paradise

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My Dante odyssey is at an end. A strategy to studying was hard to find. A break between the Purgatorio and Paradiso lit classes would have helped. When I found the Longfellow translation on YouTube, I discovered the poetry of this canticle. For class, I read the Musa translation with its footnotes and then followed up by listening to the Longfellow translation. Longfellow's 1860's translation should not be discounted for modern readers.

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Graywacke

Paradiso | Robert Hollander, Jean Hollander

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What can I say about this? It‘s not fun in the way Inferno and Purgatory are. It‘s difficult, idea heavy, obscuring all references, churning out Dante‘s take on St. Thomas, sketching a little heresy oh so gently here or there. Also, it‘s science fiction as we visit the moon, planets and the starry space. This completes one of my 2020 goals. Dante is nice place to spend a year. (And the Hollander translation and notes make it easy.)

Cuilin Did you just say Purgatory is fun?? 😂 Congratulations on your goal. 3y

Graywacke @Cuilin it is fun! 😁 And thank you. 3y

GingerAntics @Cuilin Inferno is fun, too. 😁 (edited) 3y

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Palimpsest My favorite was Inferno. I have the Fagles version and even with notes it felt bogged down with religious people of the time that I know nothing about. I‘m glad I read it, but would have liked reading this in a class setting to gain as much as possible from the text. The past few years I‘ve made classics my goal. I‘ve read this, Iliad, Ovid‘s Metamorphosis, and will hopefully finish Aenid. Odyssey next year. 🙂 3y

Cuilin @GingerAntics I‘m really hoping you‘re both referring to books otherwise I will have to question your definition of fun. 😆 I haven‘t read either 🤔 so maybe I‘ve no idea what fun is!! 3y

Graywacke @Palimpsest Cool! i‘ve been working up from the Iliad. 👍 Petrarch and Boccaccio are next for me. I feel mostly satisfied with the Hollander version of Dante. But could read Inferno again with another translation. So much to remember there. Such a groundbreaking work. I loved the Aeneid book VI but wasn‘t crazy about the last several books. 3y

Graywacke @Cuilin oh, right. Purgatory is not fun! 😆 Better than inferno in that light by a long long shot ( @GingerAntics ) 3y

Palimpsest I picked up The Decameron this year. Been wanting to read it since Chaucer, but I have to break up reading the classics with other books which is why I‘ve been choosing one or two a year. I didn‘t mean to go on and on about what I‘ve been reading. It‘s just exciting when I see someone reading them too. 3y

Lcsmcat @Palimpsest I read The Decameron earlier this year. 2020 is a good year to read it, since it‘s plague fiction. 3y

GingerAntics @Cuilin 🤣😂🤣 yes the books are fun. The language is really good and even though he‘s writing about he‘ll and suffering, it doesn‘t read heavy at all. 3y

GingerAntics @Palimpsest @Lcsmcat oh, I added the Decameron to my wish list after I heard about it on DaVinci‘s Demons and totally forgot about it. I heard earlier in the year that it was plague fiction so I wanted to fit it in this year. I don‘t know how I managed to forget it again. What translations did you guys read? 3y

Lcsmcat @GingerAntics Mine was Richard Aldington - from an old volume I picked up in a thrift shop. 3y

Graywacke @Palimpsest you never have to apologize for talking about books here. ☺️ Also I love the connections from book to book. Will get to Chaucer - who Hollander says pokes some fun at Dante (Boccaccio does too) @Lcsmcat @GingerAntics I‘ve thought about the plague connection with Decameron. !! 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @GingerAntics i need to look into translations... 3y

GingerAntics Rebhorn is the most celebrated. It was done in 2013 and has won some awards for translation. McWilliam, I‘m told, isn‘t bad. That‘s the penguin classics version I was previously considering before discovering the Rebhorn. I‘m leaning toward the Rebhorn... I think. 3y

batsy Congratulations on completing your goal! You've given me an idea for 2021... If I can get the books 😁 3y

batsy @Palimpsest I really loved Fagles' translation of The Odyssey, though I don't have anything to compare it to! I'm looking forward to tackling Emily Wilson's version at some point :) 3y

Graywacke @batsy I would love to follow your take on Dante. 3y

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arubabookwoman

Dante's Paradise | Dante Alighieri

I mentioned that our son took our dog Dante, who was nearly 17 at the time, b/c my husband couldn't be around animals during his transplant. I didn't expect to see Dante again. But our son came to Fl for 3 wks in Oct and brought Dante, so we got to visit. He is now nearly 19 & blind, but he is happy. Here he is in my lap.

TrishB ♥️🐶 3y

MicheleinPhilly 🤗🤗🤗So pleased you got to love on him again! ❤️ 3y

BookNAround ❤️❤️❤️ 3y

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LeahBergen 💗💗💗 Awww! 3y

Cathythoughts He‘s lovely & really living a long life ❤️ 3y

Leftcoastzen Awww ! That‘s wonderful! 3y

Liz_M Yay Dante! 3y

batsy That's lovely! Dante ❤️❤️❤️ 3y

readordierachel What a sweetheart ❤ 3y

BiblioLitten 💕 3y

Graywacke Dante is adorable 3y

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Graywacke

Paradiso | Robert Hollander, Jean Hollander

Hope posting this doesn‘t mean I‘m leaving anyone in anguished craving. 🙂😇

GingerAntics 🤣😂🤣 so descriptive for just two words... anguished craving 4y

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Graywacke

Paradiso | Robert Hollander, Jean Hollander

I showed him this page and told him, who said I don‘t do sci fi? This was his reaction.

Tanisha_A 😂 4y

rubyslippersreads 😹😹😹 4y

Graywacke @Tanisha_A @rubyslippersreads I‘m sure he‘s proud of himself. 🙂 4y

batsy 😻😻 4y

45 likes4 comments

Graywacke

Paradiso | Robert Hollander, Jean Hollander

Ok, here it goes. The commentary tells me less narrative and more theology (and philosophy).

GingerAntics Oh boy. Good luck in there. 4y

Graywacke @GingerAntics i‘m looking forward to it. !! 🙂 4y

GingerAntics I‘m trying to hurry up and finished The Panther and the Lash without missing anything so Inferno can be my next poetry selection, and my first trip into epic poetry. 4y

Graywacke @GingerAntics my first must have been The Faerie Queene, where the introduction told me 10% of readers finish the 1st book and 10% of those finish the whole thing. I found that incredibly motivational. 😆 But no one warns about Dante because it‘s really accessible with a good translation. He‘s not intimidating at all. Hope you get to and enjoy Inferno. 4y

GingerAntics Really? Dante has always seemed really intimidating to me. It‘s definitely happening next. It may take me a few months to go through it properly, but I‘m cool with that. I had to read a really small portion of the Faerie Queene in a Shakespeare and Contemporaries class. It was about a page long. I think I‘d want a translation on that was well. That shire is motivational. Are you one of the 10% of the 10%?! It could be a game show!!! 4y

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Lalaomi

Dante's Paradise | Dante Alighieri

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Dante‘s finally in heaven, third and final book of The “Divine Comedy” saga. Really good out of the Saga I believe this is my favorite. Must read definitely

CometReadings Inferno and Paradise are definitely my faves. But it's a long time since the last time I read both. 5y

Lalaomi @Comet_Readings yes! Paradise is my favorite but you need to love the first! I started reading it because I loved the idea or just go to the end of the world (or hell) for the person you love, with no really good plan just because you‘ll do anything for the person you love. I think this is a classic everyone should read. 5y

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