The Inferno, Dante Alighieri
 

What are your thoughts on this book? It imbedded a much clearer, complex vision of hell, and these days isn't even thought of for a second as a comedy. I find it endlessly fascinating even though I'm no christian. Also, which translations do you enjoy best? I enjoy the one by Henri Barbusse which isn't in rhyme, but follows a stream of narrative conciousness like that of Poe or Shelley.

G_G I loved it, but for some reason the people here don't :(

Yeah, it was awesome (IMHO BITCHES!)

Oh, but really I admire this book and likely to always be on shelf, or in my very hands.
Goth Forever
Goth Forever
Goth Forever

For me, it was interesting mainly for historical reasons--the light it throws on the culture of the Italian renaissance, and so forth. I can't find my copy right now (it's probably in boxes of books I don't have shelves for), so I can't tell you the translator, but it was a proper scholarly text, with variant translations and more footnotes than poetry. In my opinion, the footnotes were more interesting, but then I like footnotes.

It's a good poem--would have been better fresh, before centuries of parody, imitation, and commentary had sucked the life from the images--but not a favorite of mine.

I still get chills at the image of Satan in the ice, though, and having to crawl down his legs to get to Purgatory (Hell is inverted under Heaven) was a nice symbolic touch.

Oddly enough, I've never seen it parodied or imitated. Perhaps it's for the best eh? I've been fascinated with the concept of Purgatory for many years now.

You've probably seen its influence far more often than you're aware, since many of Dante's ideas have so permeated our thinking about Hell, Heaven, and the rest that it's hard to separate them out. To take an obvious example, variations on the phrase "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" can be found throughout both literature and the more clueful parts of popular culture.

What is it about Purgatory that fascinates you so?

Yeah, I knew the influence it had on the popular view of hell, I just haven't seen anyone making fun of it yet. I don't really know why I find purgatory so fascinating. It's one of life's great mysteries. :p

Maybe it won't be so mysterious once you find your donkey ass following after the carrot of salvation on the netherisland of the psuedodamned for a trillion years. I'll wager that the idea of a billion millenia of purgation through misery and torment won't be so fascinating once it becomes a reality. And that's only if you're lucky. Repent, you sin-puff, throw yourself at the knees of our Lord and grip at his pant legs for forgiveness, or spend your afterlife in despair, and then ultimate bliss, but first despair.
Who would dare insult Dante's divine vision? Do you think it's a cheap coincidence that the work remains untainted by puerile satire after seven centuries? Any upstanding Christaholic can tell you that the Lord of Infinite Love and Insecurity puts his top three in this order:

1. The Divine Comedy
2. Danielle Steel's 'To Love Again'
3. Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten

Only the truly Hell-bound would think to see the Bible as a favorite of God's. After all, pride isn't his most loved personality trait. Even less likely is that he would allow for a moment that a cheap parody of this most divine comedy be spewed forth by his own spawn.

Remember, Draconysius, and all of you sin-drenched sons of the morning who call themselves 'goths', the Sisters of Mercy aren't just a band.

It was a pain to understand when I was nine, but I recently revisited it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I like how he described the geography of Hell, and the poetic comeuppance for each of the damned. It was even exciting to read about their encounter with the Malebranche in Bolgia 5.

I read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's translation, btw. Not sure what differences it holds to others.

Comedy is a translation of the word comedia, which meant a story with a happy ending, not a story embedded with humour.

Though the farting demon was pretty funny.

I loved it --but enjoyed a later version written by Niven and Pournell I believe...

Hey Draco, here's a link of some dude talking about INFERNO as written by Niven and Pournelle ( they based it on Alihgheri's HELL)... to give you an overview of the concept, from a reader's POV:

http://www.troynovant.com/Grube/Nive...e/Inferno.html

That's just plain weird, I'm reading the book right now.

You're forgetting the other two parts of the epic trilogy, mind you.

I think it's an amazing book that takes you on a journey that only strong literature can. I felt that with Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and it's renewed with The Divine Comedy, which just shows that good literature is not bound by format.

Larry Niven did a version? What was it called? I MUST add THAT to my collection of Niven books! (Love his Neutron Star creations: puppeteers, General Products hulls, Kzinti, Kdatlyno and so on.) I love Pournell too.

I like the concept of purgatory because it reminds me of where we are now!
:D