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Michael Finocchiaro's Reviews > The Purgatorio
The Purgatorio (The Divine Comedy, #2)
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Michael Finocchiaro's review
bookshelves: italian-renaissance, fiction, classics
Oct 08, 2016
bookshelves: italian-renaissance, fiction, classics
Read 2 times. Last read November 15, 2016.
This is a great book, but does require the notes to make any sense of it. Hundreds of characters from Dant¨¦'s Italy not to mention host of mythological and Biblical ones tended to distract me just reading the poetry and appreciating Dante's wonderful descriptions. I have to stop at the end of each chapter and read the notes to understand the context and people that Dante is referring to. I agree that it would be impossible to ever write this book without references to contemporary politics and so it probably felt dated in that manner even as Boccacio was writing Dante's biography and promoting this up-to-then banned masterpiece 50 years after Dante finished it. Perhaps a lot of postmodern literature will suffer from the same feeling of obsolescence? Am I a hypocrite because I also adore Pynchon, DFW, Proust and Joyce who also require dense footnotes to completely understand? Perhaps but my point was more that I have to read this in a stop and start manner and it takes a little away from the pleasure of reading straight through.
All that being said, there is nothing in Western literature quite like the Divine Comedy and this central volume of 33 cantos is of unsurpassed depth and beauty.
If I were to express this book in a picture, I would probably see something like this: from Dong Qichang (¶Æä²ý, 1555-1636) as it seems to express the long hazardous climb and yet the peaceful conclusion awaiting Dante at the top.
All that being said, there is nothing in Western literature quite like the Divine Comedy and this central volume of 33 cantos is of unsurpassed depth and beauty.
If I were to express this book in a picture, I would probably see something like this: from Dong Qichang (¶Æä²ý, 1555-1636) as it seems to express the long hazardous climb and yet the peaceful conclusion awaiting Dante at the top.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
October 8, 2016
– Shelved
October 29, 2016
– Shelved as:
italian-renaissance
October 29, 2016
– Shelved as:
fiction
October 29, 2016
– Shelved as:
classics
November 15, 2016
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Started Reading
November 15, 2016
–
Finished Reading
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Nov 14, 2016 04:16PM
Mind you, without the "characters from Dant¨¦'s Italy" and the "host of mythological and Biblical ones", there is not much left of the narrative to be distracted from:-)
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Well, perhaps I would be less distracted if we were talking about Nixon and Kissinger burning in hell with Kennedy and Johnson on Purgatory rather than so-and-so that Dante had a grudge against but no one has ever heard of since ;)
That's a little harsh le_fino. Dante was only using his equivalent of Nixon et all. Doing so utilised common knowledge to free up the narrative from what would otherwise be a long winded explanation of each circle. The original text did not need notes because everyone that could read knew the scandals behind each person. These scandals were huge in their day, so huge that it was thought they would never be forgotten. If we were to rewrite Dante with modern names I guarantee 80 years from now people will say "Who the heck is Burlesconi? What did Kenedy do to deserve this punishment ? Which sin is being punished here?" And then the modern divine comedy would need just as many notes and reviewers would be saying "but no one has ever heard of them since"We cannot choose who will survive in the futures history books we can only write for the audience of the here and now if we are to make any impact at all.
I was not suggesting that it the text should be touched - and yes I was being facetious, well sort of (I think for sure Kissinger should be in hell around the 6th or 7th circle for his war crimes). Anyway, I modified the original article to try to clarify what I was trying to say.
ooo if we are nominating war criminals I vote for Churchill. The carpet bombing of Dresden just one example.Write up is much clearer now.
Thanks Elspeth! And the fire-bombing of Tokyo (which caused more deaths than the bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki)? Easier targets would be Trujillo, Mobutu, Pot Pol, Petain, Pinochet, Franco, Papa and Baby Doc Duvalier, Ortega, Mao, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Hirohito...damn it must be pretty packed down there after the last century!
Back to the book, itself. I read the Ciardi translation a long while ago and found it very engaging. Now, I am into the Clive James translation. There are a lot of differences, but I appreciate that James (a poet) may be able to provide more of the lyrical quality that was in the original Dante.
Thanks for the suggestion - I'll check that one out!
This has to be one of the best (or the best) review I've read on this site. I also appreciate the beautiful work of art that you shared with us. I agree w/you that it's a great symbolic image of Dante's rough terrain to the blissful top. Thank you for this review, I enjoyed it.
