Dante's Divine Comedy

[Sheila]

I was wondering what people thought of Divine Comedy. I have always wanted to read this book, and never have. I just bought the book, and have just started but wanted to see what others thought.

[Pappy]

I read it way back when and enjoyed it. I couldn't quite get it as well as an older person might (I read it when I was in 7th grade), but I still enjoyed it.

[Sheila]

Thank you, I just started it. I decide to just read it first, to enjoy the poetry, and the surface meaning, then go back reread it again looking for the deeper hidden meanings.

[Spoons]

is it a hard book to understand/follow?

[Pappy]

Not too hard. I found that I had to be in a place with little distraction though. It's definitely a little more challenging than "summer" reading but it's worth it.

[ResonantAleph]

One source of the divergent opinions surrounding this book is the multitude of translations currently available. If you're looking for a good verse translation, it's difficult to beat the Binyon version. As for prose, the Longfellow translation is far and away the most lyrically beautiful, but the Durling translation is far superior as far as faithfulness to the meaning of the original text goes. The story itself is relatively untouched by translation and the emotional patois of the epic is still fairly accessible to a modern reader. A must read for any lit-lover.