Merhaba, ben geldim. Uzun yollar yürüdüm de geldim, Dante ile öte dünyanın sayısız dairesini yürüdüm, yürüye yürüye cehennemin en dışından arafa vardım, günahlarımız bir bir silindi, yolun sonunda cennete vardık. Uzun, çok uzun bir yolculuktu - ama ne yolculuk!

İlahi Komedya'yı burada anlatmak şüphesiz imkansız, bu kitabı genel olarak anlatmak mümkün mü onu da bilmiyorum gerçi. Batı edebiyatının kurucu metinlerinden biri kendisi malum, sayısız kez incelenmiş, sökülmüş yeniden yapılmış, didiklenmiş bir metin. Ben de zaten okuduğum kitaplarda sürekli olarak kendisine verilen referansları artık daha iyi anlamak istediğim için cesaret edip okudum. Buraya bir küçük not düşeyim: mevzubahis 700 sayfalık bir şiir olunca, elbette çeviri meselesi büyük önem kazanıyor. Bizdeki yaygın kabul ödül de almış olan Rekin Teksoy çevirisinden okumak, ben de vaktiyle ona biraz göz gezdirmiştim. Yakın zamanda Alfa'dan çıkan Seçkin Erdi çevirisini tercih etme sebebim hem bu yeni çeviriye bir şans vermek, hem bu çevirinin orijinal İtalyanca metnin 18, 19 ve 20. yüzyıllardan üç ayrı İngilizce çeviriyle kelime kelime karşılaştırılarak hazırlanmış olması, hem de William Blake'in meşhur resimlerinin bu baskıda ilgili bölümlere yerleştirilmiş olması idi. Ben tercihimden memnun kaldım ama tabii Rekin Teksoy çevirisi de başka bir deneyim, farkındayım.

Dediğim gibi, anlatmak çok zor; hissetmek, deneyimlemek lazım bu metni. Homeros, Vergilius ve Ovidius'un metinleri kadar büyük ve onlara sırtını yaslayarak yükselen bir şiir bu. Özellikle Cehennem'in dokuz dairesini dolaşırken ortaya koyduğu siyasi alegoriler, yedi ölümcül günahın izinde Araf'ı gezerken sunduğu evrensel perspektif, Cennet bölümünde Papalık makamına yaptığı eleştirilerin hepsi zamanının çok ötesinde, çok şaşırtıcı, çok büyüleyici.

Bir de tabii ünlü Beatrice ile -özellikle Cennet bölümünde- yakından tanışmak ve Dante'nin herbiri birbirinden lezzetli kelimeleriyle hemhal olmak pek tarifsiz bir deneyimdi. Anlatıp duruyorum ama sözcük bu işte aslında: tarifsiz. Kendini hazır hisseden her okurun yolu buraya çıksın dilerim.

Bu uzun yolculuğun sonundaki vaziyetimi de yine Dante tariflesin madem: "Ölmedim, ama diri de değilim." :)

Dante > Shakespeare

(Using this as a placeholder cover as there is no compiled Sayers translation. My second read of this will be Ciardi's, so this can patiently wait until then.)

This book was full of Oh My moments. And yes I had my pencil out doing annotations with this one.

This long poem reminded me of “The Revelation of St. John The Divine” AKA “The Book of Revelation”.

The super bonuses of this book were that it was the Longfellow translation and had all of the Dore illustrations.

Take time to read this one if you haven’t.

الكوميديا المقدسة، إحدى أعظم نتاجات الأدب الإيطالي والأوروبي عامة، والتدشين الأكمل والأكثر تعقيداً وروعةً للمزيج الذي صبغ أوروبا في كل صحواتها من سبات التاريخ، منذ قسطنطين إلى عصر النهضة وحتى الراهن، مزيج الميثولوجيا اليونانية واللاهوت المسيحي.
هذه الكوميديا موسوعة معارف وملحمة شعرية ولهيب رائع لوجدان نادر.

قرأتها -على مراحل متباعدة- بترجمة السوري حنا عبود، لا عن قصد مسبق وإنما حصل لي الكتاب صدفةً، وهي ترجمة رشيقة ومنسابة بحكم انحياز حنا عبود -كما أعلن في المقدمة- للسرد والتصاعد الدرامي للكوميديا على حساب الش��ري والمجاز الملحمي.
وهي الترجمة الثانية -تاريخاً- بعد ترجمة المصري حسن عثمان، والعراقي كاظم جهاد، وثلاثتها ترجمات ثمينة، ولكلّ ميزتها، وإن كان الاحتفاء الأكبر حظيت به الأخيرة.

وبين الجحيم والمطهر والفردوس، يجمع قراء الكوميديا ونقادها على أن الجحيم أجمل أجزائها وأكثفها بالدفق الوجداني واللهيب الشعري العالي.

في قاع الجحيم يُرمى أعظم العصاة الخاطئين, وأشنعهم عذاباً في مملكة الألم الأبدية, وفي هذا القعر لا ترى اللهب وإنما بحيرة الزمهرير كما يصفه دانتي, هناك يرمى الخونة, لأنهم فقدوا في حياتهم العاطفة, تخلّوا عن الدفء, فكان عذابهم لا لهيب النار وإنما برد الزمهرير الذي يشبه أرواحهم. بين تلك الأجساد التي اقتحمت الشياطين أرواحها, مغرقة في الجليد حتى الأفئدة, بينما أبقي أعلاهم مشرعاً لليباب, بوجوه محنّطة بالصقيع, جُمّد فيها مسار الدمع من المآقي, حتى يبقى الألم هناك, في الجوف الذي لا قعر له,في الداخل المعتم المكتظّ بالألم والوحشة. يتضرّع أحدهم لدانتي أن يمسح خيط الجليد ليمكنه أن يتحرر وينعتق بالبكاء, ليستردّ روحه بالدموع, ولو محض ثانية قبل أن تردّه الإرادة العليا جليداً, ولكن دانتي يتركه ويمضي. كان أقسى عذاب في مملكة الألم ألا يستطيعوا البكاء, ألا يكون لهم دموع.

في ضريح رمزيّ لشاعر إيطاليا الأعظم دانتي اليغييري , في مدينته فلورنسا, التي نفتْه في الخلافات السياسية التي اصطلت بها , و رفضت حكومتها -و كنيستها- أن يعود إليها إلّا بعد أن يكتب رسالة اعتذار و يمشي حافياً ذليلاً على مطلع من الناس كعلامة على الندم, رفض دانتي ذلك طبعاً حتى مات بعيداً عنها في المنفى في طريق سفر التهمته فيه الملاريا, قبل أن يكتشف الأوروبيون عبقريته بعد وفاته بعقود من خلال الكوميديا الإلهية, الأثر الأدبي الكلاسيكي الأعظم لأوروبا ما قبل النهضة. في هذا الضريح , تجد تمثالاً لفتاة تحني ظهرها و تبكي على القبر الرمزيّ للشاعر العظيم ...أبو اللغة الإيطالية كما سمّوه , هذه الفتاة هي فلورنسا ,في علامة على ندمها على ما صنعتْه لدانتي , و كأنّها تطلب الصفح منه . كثير من هذه المدن تحتاج فقط أن تعود -كما كانت- فتاةً ... و تبكي على أبنائها و عشاقها الكثيرين الذين ملؤوا المدافن و المنافي و العتمات.

Non riesco nemmeno a trovare le parole giuste per rendere giustizia a quest'opera monumentale. CAPOLAVORO.

"Quien aquí entre, abandone toda esperanza. "

Símbolo inequívoco de su época, esta obra de arte inmortalizada en letras, es un legado universal que Dante nos dejó para siempre y que es un clásico de proporciones épicas que disfruté de principio a final.
Algunas consideraciones:
Mucha gente lee La Divina Comedia interesada solamente por el Infierno, y no es para menos.
Si alguien tiene la inmensa suerte de leer la edición ilustrada por Gustave Doré, llega al Paraíso como si acompañara a Dante buscando a Beatriz.
El Purgatorio es tan, pero tan bueno, que me atrapó. Dante describe los siete pecados capitales de forma tan maravillosa que no la va para nada en zaga al Infierno.
El Paraíso es el la parte que menos gusta. Muchos la consideran tediosa y de una carga teológica muy alta (bueno, estas eran las convicciones de Dante en la época).
Es cierto también que por la obra desfila una larga galería de personajes que no conocemos, por eso, es muy importante contar con una edición que contenga notas aclaratorias, sobre todo de orden histórico más que mitológicas o alegóricas.
La elección de Virgilio no está hecha para nada al azar. Sólo un poeta de ese calibre podría haber acompañado a Dante al Infierno. Recordemos la brillantez de Virgilio para retratar el descenso de Eneas, quien también baja a los infiernos para ir a buscar a su padre Anquises, en el sexto capítulo de "La Eneida".
Yo leí una interesante edición de La Divina Comedia, publicada por Editorial Losada en tres libros, con el agregado de aclaratorias notas adicionales.
Luego conseguí un hermoso volumen de 1946 traducido por quien fuera Presidente de la República Argentina, me refiero a Bartolomé Mitre y que sigue siendo una de las mejores hechas en español.
Por último y para esta reseña leí la Commedia en prosa en un hermoso libro que tiene el agregado del prólogo escrito por Stefan Zweig.
Es menester leer La Divina Comedia junto con el Fausto de Goethe y El Paraíso Perdido de Milton, cuando de clásicos de esta naturaleza se habla.

I must confess that so much was beyond my comprehension; but I think that is the mark of a great work of art...it allows you to take what you can from it from where you are. I can see why there are scholars who study this book for years; it is so complete, almost a universe itself. I was so happy when I finished this book - both exhilarated and humbled by the genius of Dante.

n  “All hope abandon, ye who enter here.”n



excellent fanfiction.


it's obviously an excellent poem BUT i guess i just did not enjoy it as much as u all did. last year we talked about this shit a lot in uni so i finally decided to read the whole thing.
i did not really like Paradiso so there's that.
Dante is such a name dropper.


i'm too lazy to write a review *let's be honest, no one cares about my opinion on this* so look at these:

Every moment of Dante's gruelling masterpiece is a Revelation of a Timeless Moment:

Timeless Moments of our own or another's Hellish Anger or Hellish Lust; Timeless moments of our own or other's stinging Purgatorial guilt over Sloth or Empty Vanity;: or Timeless Moments of Heavenly Peace and Freedom at last, at the apparent end of our journey.

Once we know the Way Up and the Way Down, our Work is Cut Out for Us!
***

Reading the Divine Comedy at seventeen was, for me, to see the world sub specie aeternitatis. Apparently that’s not okay in the World’s eyes.

Writing it, in the 14th Century, was not considered okay either.

So Dante was banished for life from Florence.

In the Comedy eternal flame is the just deserts of corrupt conformity.

That doesn’t seem quite right in the eyes of the comfortably politically correct, back then as now. And they, like it or not, always have the final say. And what they say, goes! And Dante had to go.

So reading this literary landmark for the first time, when I was seventeen, marked the inauguration of a colossal climacteric in my life.
***

The winds of change, back then, were howling all around me and - as if in reaction - Dante’s vertical landscapes, ascending and descending, morphed within my mind to become the central mythos of my world and my young spirit.

For Dante’s work states clearly - from his symbolic POV - that we CAN find lasting happiness and security: in spite of the majority’s comfortable perpetual nay-saying to the contrary.

What we have to do to find it is pacify our dark impulses, work out our emotional trauma with diligence and awareness, and then aspire to reach the gates of Real and Lasting Happiness.

The faith that Dante has finally received from God when he reaches the summit of Purgatory is contained in its ultimate vision - that of the Giant and the Whore being cast, by the Gryphon, into the Pit.

In our times, the Giant is, of course, the controlling robotic Big Brother of us moderns, and the Whore, its eternally driving Desire. The one feeds the other.

And at the End of Time they are both cast into Hell by the mythical Gryphon - the Avenging Lord.

And so dawns the new Heaven and Earth, inexorable and ultimately Victorious, as Dante attains Paradise.

That sums it up: Hell. Purgation. And Paradise. And it all takes place right here on the face of this unforgiving planet.
***

Now, here’s a key point that many have missed about the Comedia: while it is easy to fall through the cracks of life into an Infernal Reality, it’s next to impossible to maintain a decent attitude while falling.

The cthonic pull of the Inferno is just too intense!

But Dante did it. So, while enduring his cruel vision in the daily life of ruthlessly divided Florence, he kept his rational cool throughout.

It speaks volumes of his character. And it tells you EXACTLY the kind of virtue you need to get to Heaven...

In the era of my first reading of it, my grandmother had a beautifully bound edition of the Longfellow translation - with its wonderful nouveau Gothic plates by Gustave Doré - which I carried all around my parents’ house, absorbed in its mystical milieu.

By the next summer I had graduated to a library loan of the much less bulky-sized John Ciardi translation, in a limited edition with abstract modernistic illustrations.

You know, one or another edition has been with me all throughout the intervening 50+ years between then and now, my literal ‘sine qua non’ Vade Mecum in all of its multiple shapes and sizes!

At university, it was the must-own tiny Everyman Library dual-language edition, with its graceful Pre-Raphaelite line drawings - very easy to stick into my shirt pocket going to and from lectures...

And, do you know, I recently realized that in all my many, many readings of the poetic translations available, I’ve never been able to fully grasp the subtle complexities of Dante’s Aristotelian/Thomist philosophical arguments?

So I picked up Charles Eliot Norton’s eminently accessible PROSE translation for my Kindle.

So, as well as the print edition pictured above - another excellent translation - THAT is the story of my life... in One Book!
***

And now that the end of of my life is approaching Sooner - rather than Later (or that’s the impression I now get), I can look back at my life, and the world I’ve lived in, and agree with The Comedy’s author that, as is inscribed in bold letters on the glorious facade of the old San Francisco Public Library:

“La gloria di colui che tutto move
Per l’universo penetra, e risplende
In una parte piu e meno altrove.”

“The glory of The Prime Mover penetrates throughout the entire universe - in one part less, and another more!”

And He, the Prime Mover Himself, will guide us safely Home through the howling storms of this dark world if we’re alert to its dangers.

But knowing the dangers, how do we make that first step out of this City of Destruction and forever escape the maws of the ravenous Beasts that keep us from ascending out of its Dark Wood?

The answer is simple. It’s our own appetites that feed the power the beasts have over us. So we first have to “make perfect (our) Will.”

So for me, Dante’s words, being lapidary - meaning etched in stone - were a portent as well as a promise.

For, as we grow older, we must keep always moving, and ever watchful and contrite -

To avoid becoming - like those who dare to dream drunkenly in the face of the Gorgon, Death - Turned Ourselves to Stone:

And SINKING into the Depths!

Cave, lector.

Tengo dos razones por las cuales quise leer La Dinvina Comedia.

1. Pretendo leer Inferno de Dan Brown en algún momento de mi vida y me parecía irrespetuoso (¿?) no leer la obra en la que fue basado antes.
2. Porque soy una friki cuasi gamer y sí, me gusta Devil May Cry *la echan de GoodReads*



Resulta que en la saga de videojuegos hay bastantes simbolismos con respecto a La Divina Comedia, y cada uno de los nombres de los personajes se corresponde con alguna que otra aparición dentro de la novela. Como obvio no pude quedarme cruzada de brazos ante la curiosidad, me dije "Bueno, si un videojuego me hace leer, bienvenido sea".

Las razones son estúpidas, pero no me arrepiento.

Me alegra tener también ciertos conocimientos previos a la lectura de este libro. La verdad que la edición que me compré ayudó muchísimo. Está escrito en prosa y contiene numerosas aclaraciones al pie de las páginas que me detallan todo mejor (por supuesto que con el tiempo se volvieron medio molestas, porque como que interrumpen la lectura). El prólogo de Jorge Luis Borges también está muy bonito. Antes de leer La Divina Comedia, recomendaría un par de cosas:
•Tener mínima idea de los planteos de Platón y Aristóteles
•Haber leído al menos uno de los libros de Platón (recomiendo El Banquete, es uno de los más fáciles y llevaderos), pues la manera de escribir y de plantear las cosas de Dante me fueron muy parecidas a las de él
•Gustar mucho de la mitología y saber de antemano las diversas leyendas y los diferentes nombres con los que se conocieron a los dioses griegos/romanos
•Haber estudiado algo de Catequesis en el colegio, o tener algún conocimiento de la Biblia, ya que hay demasiadas referencias a los sucesos del Nuevo y Antiguo Testamento.

En fin, creo que no es un libro para cualquiera. Sinceramente no esperaba encontrarme con nada, así que todo fue novedoso. No digo que se haya vuelto denso, sino que repetitivo. Canto tras canto Dante va conociendo personas y personas que narran sus experiencias y vos estás ahí diciendo "¿Yyyyy amigo, para cuándo algo?".

El tema de los círculos tanto en el Infierno como en el Purgatorio era lo que más me interesaba y por lo que La Divina Comedia más es conocida. El Paraíso me sorprendió, no esperaba que estuviera dividido de esa forma.

Me encariñé demasiado con Vergil. Digoooo, el poeta Virgilio.



Y con Dante. Bastante.
Me puso un poco nerviosa la cantidad de veces que Dante mencionaba la belleza inmaculada de Beatriz, pero supongo que se lo puedo perdonar.

En fin, nada, eso, vayan a jugar los videojuegos. EEEEH a leer el libro.

Written for the Celebrity Death Match Review Tournament

(sung to the tune of "Minnie The Moocher")

Folks, here´s a story about Winnie the Pooh-cher
He was a chubby Pooh-chie-koocher
He was fat and loved his honey
but he was sweet and his heart was sunny

(chorus)
Hunny-Hunny-Hunny-hi
Hundee-hundee-hunndee-ho
Pigletee-pigletee-hee
Tiggery-Tiggery--Ho

He met a dude whose name was Virgil
who hung around in hellish circles.
He took the bear to hell for a match
where he planned to kick Pooh's ass.

{chorus)

Pooh saw things that curled his toes
Things that burned and things that glowed.
Pooh said, "Hey this isn't funny!
And I don't see one ounce of honey."

(chorus)

Virgil said, "Remember where you are.
This is hell not "Dancing with the Stars.
Where people pay for their mortal sins
And I wonder Pooh, where your sins' been."

Pooh now felt out of his league.
For he knew hoarding honey was Greed
And he wasn't the most energetic bloke
"Oh dear! Sloth's a sin! Is there no hope?"

(chorus)

Virgil laughed and was enjoying his victory.
When Beatrice descended and his win was history.
Beatrice squealed like a schoolgirl in joy.
"Oh, what a cutie! A little Pooh Toy!.

(chorus)

Beatrice grabbed Pooh, to heaven he was lifted
Where she cuddled him in eternal kisses
The moral of this tale is simple but clever
Being terminally cute beats all Lucifer's levels.

(chorus)

Yea Win! Yea Win, Yea Win.

(With apologies to Cab Calloway)

n  “Through me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.
Justice the founder of my fabric moved:
To rear me was the task of power divine,
Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.
Before me things create were none, save things
Eternal, and eternal I shall endure.
All hope abandon, ye who enter here.”n

There is no much one can say about this marvelous poem that has not been said before. One of the greatest epic poems to have been written, ever. The book is divided into three books, Inferno, meaning hell; Purgatorio, meaning purgatory; and Paradiso, meaning heaven. My favourite has always been Inferno, but Paradiso is highly underrated, as underrated as this brilliant work can possibly be.

n  “The man who lies asleep will never waken fame, and his desire and all his life drift past him like a dream, and the traces of his memory fade from time like smoke in air, or ripples on a stream.” n



This is a basic view of the world as Dante knew it back in the 14th century, a human’s soul journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven.

This poem mixes religion and science, everything from the most basic Christian Dogma to early Islamic astronomy, with a lot of his political views mixed in. At the time this work was being written, Dante was living in exile, he uses this work as a way to show his enemies and what he thought not only of figures of his time, but of historical figures in general, including Plato, Aesop, Alejandro Magno, Mary as well as legendary people, such as Abel, Diana, and Isaac. If one does not wish to read this simply because it is a long poem, read it for the historical view, so many interesting characters for history buffs. My favourite thing perhaps, was how he used his work to slam the people that harmed him, including Pope Boniface VIII, the man who exiled him. Basically, apart from this being a religious work, and a historical work, it is a big “F-you” to everyone he disagreed with him, or harmed him in any way, those parts were hilarious to me. I have a horrible sense of humour.



Basically, read this poem, there is: Satan, angels, the circles of hell, philosophers in Tartarus, a reference to the Muslim conquest as “Dragon,” “the bird of Jove” attacking a church, a bunch of symbolism for “Reason,” unnecessary invocation of the Muses, Tristan and Isolde, many interesting murderers and a bunch of other cool stuff.