Çok geç bir okuma, bir nedenle okuma listemde öne çıkması üzerine okudum. Dante Alighieri’nin (1265, Floransa - 1321, Ravenna), Cehennem, Araf ve Cennet başlıklı üç ciltten oluşan “İlahi Komedya” tek kelimeyle şahaser. Eserin yazıldığı dönem (Hristiyanlığın dini baskısı, rönesansın ve matbaanın olmaması, salgın hastalıkların yaygın olması, şehirler arası savaşların yoğunluğu vb nedenler) gözönüne alındığında ve yazım tekniğindeki zorluk (terza lima tekniği) düşünüldüğünde yukarıda belirttiğim “şahaser” tanımlaması daha net yerine oturur. Öncelikle çevirinin mükemmel olduğunu, açıklayıcı dipnotlarla Rekin Teksoy’un kitabı anlaşılır kılmaktaki emeği karşısında şapka çıkardığımı belirtmeliyim. Öyle ki; İlahi Komedya’nın anlaşılabilirliği açısından okunmasının çok yararlı olacağı vurgulanan Homeros’un İlyada ve Odesea destanları ile Vergilius’un Aeneis destanının ayrıca Kitab-ı Mukaddes’in okunmamış olmasındaki eksikliği bu dipnotlar büyük ölçüde gideriyor.

Üç mısralı şiir tarzında (terzina) yazılan bu hacimli kitap yazar Dante’nin öteki dünyaya yaptığı düşsel bir geziyi destansı biçimde anlatır. 1300 yılında 7 Nisan’da Cehennem ile başladığı ve arada Araf’a uğrayıp Cennet ile sonlandırdığı ruhani gezisi bir hafta sürer. İlk iki durakta büyük hayranlık duyduğu (ustam, ozan, rehberim, gönlü yüce gölge, iyi yürekli, bilge, güzel babam, güneş, uyanık ustam vb sıfatları kullandığı) Latin ozan Vergilius (İÖ 70-19) rehberlik eder. Vergilius ünlü eseri Aeneis destanında Truva savaşından yenik çıkan Aeneis’in İtalya’ya gelerek Romalılar’ın atalarını oluşturduğunu anlatır. İlk iki ciltte Antik Yunan mitolojisi ve felsefesi ağırlıktayken, üçüncü ciktte teoloji ön plana çıkmıştır. Dipnotlar sayesinde sayısız isimler, olaylar, bilgiler ile başedilebilinmektedir. Borges, Komedya'yı bir alegori olarak ele alırsak Dante insanoğlunun, Beatrice inancın, Vergilius da aklın simgesi olacağını ileri sürmüştür ki çok akla yatkın.

İlahi Komedya içine bir aşk hikayesi yerleştirmiştir Dante, sevdiği kadın Beatrice’dir bu aşkın kahramanı, en zor ve karamsar olduğu anlarda ona olan sevgisine sığınır. Bu aşk destanda ayrı bir ilahi tema oluşturur. Cennet, Cehennem ve Araf’ta bulunmasını uygun bulduğu kişiler çok ilginç. Örneğin antik çağ filozoflarını ve ozanlarını çok beğenmesine rağmen cehenneme yerleştirmiş, çünkü bu kişiler vaftiz olmamışlardır. O dönemde Hristiyanlığın olup olmaması önemli değildir Dante için, bu çok enteresan bir mantık. Keza yeni bir dinin temsilcisi Hz Muhammed de Cehennemin alt katlarındadır, peygamberliği Dante’nin hışmından kurtaramamıştır onu ve Hz Ali’yi. Kitabın tadı kaçmasın diye daha fazla ayrıntı vermeyeceğim.

Kitabını o zaman geçerli dil olan Latince yerine İtalyanca, yaşadığı bölge olan Toscana lehçesiyle yazmıştır ki bu devrimci seçimi bile kitabın önemini arttırmaktadır. Her bir kitapta 33’er bölüm (kanto) vardır, Cehennem bölümündeki giriş ile birlikte toplam 100 kanto (destan bölümü) vardır. Vergilius rehberliğini Araf’ın tepesinde Beatrice’ye bırakır, Beatrice ise Cennetin son katmanında kaybolup yerine Aziz Bernard geçer ve Cennet’teki geziyle 14 Nisan 1300’de düşsel gezi sona erer. Bu arada Clairvaux manastırının başında bulunan başkeşiş Bernard’ı niye seçmiştir Dante acaba? Bu kitap daha çok su götürür aslında !

Kitabı anlatmak zor, okunması gerekiyor çünkü. Temel olarak antik Yunan mitolojisi, Homeros’un destanları, Eski ve Yeni Ahitler, ilahiler, dini metinler ve hristiyanlığa ait söylenceler ile Dante’nin dönemindeki tarihi olaylardan beslenen bir destan. Beni kitapta etkileyen olgulardan birisi de yazarın bazı öngörülerinin gerçekleşmesi (Papalığın bir ara Vatikan’dan taşınması, kendisinin sürgüne gönderilmesi, Floransa’nın savaşta yenilgiye uğraması, Dominiken ve Fransisken tarikatları arasındaki birbirini kötüleme faaliyetleri vb gibi), bir diğer olgu da tanrıyı bir enerji, gül şeklinde ışık olarak tanımlaması keza Papa’nın kötülüklerini sakınmadan dile getirmesi oldu, ki çok cesurca. O dönemde Luther, Calvin gibi hristiyanlıkta rol ayrımlarının olmadığını hatırlatmakta yarar var. Filozoflar, astroloji, tarih ve din konusunda andiklopedik bilgisi de çok etkileyici. Çağdaşı Boccacio’nun ünlü eseri “Decameron”da bahsettiği vebadan Dante’nin hiç bahsetmemiş olması şaşırtıcı. Belki bir bildiği vardır diyerek kitabı hararetle öneririm. Son bir kısa bilgi-yorumu A. Manguel’den alıntılıyorum: “Dante okumanın dört düzeyi vardır; düz anlamlı, alegorik, mitsel, ahlaki. Teolojik çerçevenin içinde derin ve şiirsel edebi çerçeve vardır.”

الكوميديا الالهية هي ملحمة شعرية غنية عن التعريف , صادفتنا في المناهج الدراسية , في الروايات , في الافلام .
وهي جولة الشاعر والسياسي الايطالي دانتي اليجيري في العالم السفلي , حيث كان اعتقادهم في السابق ان مركز الارض هو العالم الاخر .
الملحمة تتألف من ثلاثة اجزاء , الجحيم , المطهر , واخيرا الفردوس و مجموع الابيات يفوق الـ اربعة عشر الف و ومئتين بيتاً و هذه الابيات تندرج في اناشيد , حيث يتالف الجزء الاول ( الجحيم من اربعة وثلاثون انشودة) بينما يتالف الجزأئين الاخرين من ثلاث وثلاثون انشودة .
الجزء الاول - الجحيم يتالف من عدة حلقات كل حلقة مخصصة لفئة معينة من المذنبين , و يرى دانتي ان المحايدين يستحقون اشد العذاب يليهم الفاسقين و الشرهين و البخلاء وغيرهم من اعداء دانتي الذي يختار لهم حلقات و انواع من العذاب تتناسب ونظرته الشخصية لهم . الجحيم برأيي الافضل , ربما بسبب تكرار النمط في الجزأين الآخرين , او ان الاحداث والقصص فيه اكثر اثارة .
المطهر هي المنطقة الوسطى بين الجحيم والنعيم حسب رؤية دانتي وفيها تشرق الشمس وتغيب , اي انه يوجد نهار وليل , يستأنف دانتي رحلته التماسا لضوء النهار ويتوقف ليلا, يتعب وينام وهكذا وهي مخصصة للكسالى , الاشخاص الذين لم تتح لهم فرصة التوبة الا في اللحظات الاخيرة , المتغطرسين , الامراء المقصرين في واجباتهم , البخلاء والمبذرين , النهمين , المنقادين خلف شهوات الجسد .
و الفردوس يكاد النمط لا يختلف فيه عن الجزأئين السابقين , فهو مخصص لبايترشي والشخصيات التاريخية و معاصريه الذين لم يختلف دانتي وياهم بالافكار و او المصالح .

تعكس هذه اللوحه الرائعه اضطرابات الوضع السياسي والديني في تلك الفتره ,
وسيطرة الكنيسه وفسادها انذاك لذا نرى دانتي يترنح بين الشاعر العاطفي الميال الى الرحمه وبين رجل الدين المتعصب
الذي يحكم على من اعتنق دين غير المسيحيه بالعقاب في الجحيم , حتى وان كان نبيا -قبل او بعد المسيح- فهو يواجه هذا المصير.
و هي تفسر سلوك الجماعات الدينية المتطرفة دينياً المشهورة هذه الايام , دانتي امتلك القلم فزج بخصومه في جحيم ابتدعه من خياله وخطه بقلمة , لو كانت بيده السلطه والسلاح لفعل ما يفعله الموجودين على الساحة هذه الايام .
المفارقة المضحكة اننا نرى بعض الانبياء في الجحيم او المطهر , اولئك الذين سبقوا المسيح - او جاؤوا بعده- و بنفس الوقت نرى بعض الشخصيات المشهورة بالميثولوجيا اليونانية او الشخصيات الخيالية تنعم في الفردوس .
كما اشرت ان ابيات هذه الملحة تفوق ال 14200 وهي غنية بالقصص و والاشارات المستمدة من الميثولوجيا او من ما عاصره دانتي , هي موسوعة غنية باحداث تاريخية عمرها الاف السنين , تحتاج الى دراسة وقراءة متأنية مطولة و بحث , لم اعطها حقها ابدا و قرأتها على عجل من باب الاطلاع لاغير.
لم افهم الكثير من مقاصده واضطررت للبحث بين نسخة كاظم جهاد و حسن عثمان واحيانا بعض البحوث باللغة الانكليزية و مع ذلك فاتني الكثير , قرأتها في فترات متقطعه خلال شهرين و لم اعطها حقها ابدا .
على الرغم من انتقاداتي الشخصية لافكار دانتي , و لدانتي شخصياً و تحفظي على بعض اجزاءها لكن لا يمكن نكران روعة هذا العمل الذي انجز قبل ما يفوق السبعمئة سنة بدون استخدام الانترنت مع فقر المصادر . ولا يمكن لنا ان ننسى ان الترجمة قللت من جودتها , فمهما كانت الترجمة جيدة لن تكون مثل النص الاصلي , عموما انصح بقراءة النسخة المترجمة من قبل كاظم جهاد .

لوحه لـ ساندرو بوتوشيلي تجسد رواية دانتي



الصور بحجمها الكبير
>هنا


* "يحدث غالباً ايها الاخ , أن يجبر المرء
لكي يتفادى خطأً ما
على فعل شيء كان ينبغي أن لا يقوم به "

"You can recognize a small truth because its opposite is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another truth."

- Niels Bohr

I was thinking about Dante the other day and wondering how one could approach him from the angle of a GoodReads review. One of the obvious problems is that he lived a long time ago, and many of the cultural referents have changed. You're constantly having to think "Well, nowadays what he's saying would correspond to THAT". It isn't so bad in Hell, when there is plenty of entertainment to be had in seeing how the different sins are punished, and indulging your schadenfreude. Then Purgatory tells a moral story that's more or less timeless if you go for that sort of thing, but once you arrive in Paradise it starts getting seriously tricky. A lot of the stuff at first sight just seems irrelevant to the 21st century world... all these explanations about the mechanics of Ptolomaic astronomy, and Dante querying the inhabitants of Heaven on obscure theological points. It's notorious that readers most often give up somewhere in the third book. I started wondering if there was any modern-day author one could identify with Dante, and if that might help us connect to his concerns. And in fact, I do have a suggestion that some people will no doubt condemn out of hand as completely heretical: Richard Dawkins.

Now of course, I am aware that Dante was deeply immersed in the Christian world-view, and Dawkins is famous for being the world's most outspoken atheist. But it's not quite as crazy as it first may seem. Dante was a Christian to the core of his being, but he was furious with the way the Church was being run; he put several of its leaders, notably Pope Boniface VIII, in Hell. On the other side, I challenge anyone to read "The Ancestor's Tale" to the end, and not, at least for a moment, entertain the idea that Dawkins is in actual fact a deeply religious man. He admits as much himself: as he puts it, it's often not so much that he disagrees with conventionally religious people, more that "they are saying it wrong". Amen to that.

As noted, both Dante and Dawkins are extremely unhappy with the way mainstream religion is being organized. The other characteristic that unites them for me is this passionate love for science. One has to remember that, for Dante, Ptolomaic astronomy was state of the art stuff, and the details of the angelic hierarchy were a topic of vital importance; of course he cross-examines the hosts of the blessed to find out more. These days, I imagine he would be trying to get inside information on what happened during the Big Bang before spontaneous symmetry breaking occurred, whether or not the Higgs particle really exists, and how evolution produced human intelligence. For Dante, there didn't seem to be any opposition between religious faith and science - they were part of the same thing. I do wonder what he would have thought if he had been able to learn that many leading religious figures, even in the early 21st century, reject a large part of science as being somehow unreligious. It's wrong to spend your life dispassionately trying to understand God's Universe? I can see him getting quite angry about this, and deciding to rearrange the seating a little down in Hell.

I keep thinking that there's a book someone ought to write called "Five Atheists You'll Meet in Heaven". Please let me know when it comes out; I'll buy a copy at once.

**************************************

PS I couldn't help wondering what Paradise might have looked like if Dante had been writing today. Obviously we wouldn't have the old geocentric model of the Universe - it would be bang up to date. I think there is now far more material for an ambitious poet to work with than there was in the 14th century. For example, when we get to the Heaven of the Galaxy, I imagine him using this wonderful fact that all the heavy elements are made in supernova explosions. "We are all stardust", as some people like to put it. Then when we get to the Heaven of the Cosmos, we find that the light from the "Let there be light" moment at the beginning of Creation is still around - it's just cooled to 2.7 degrees K, and appears as the cosmic background radiation. But it's not completely uniform, as the quantum fluctuations left over from the period when the Universe was the size of an atomic nucleus are the beginnings of the galaxies created on the second day. Finally, we reach the Heaven of the Multiverse, and find that we are just one of many different universes. It was necessary to create all of them, so that random processes could make sure that a very small number would end up being able to support life. How impious to assume that God would only be able to create one Universe, and have to tweak all the constants Himself!

أرجأتُ الشروعَ في قراءةِ هذا السِفر المذهلِ طويلاً. كعادتي/كعادتنا كنتُ ألتمسُ لهذا التكاسل المتطاولِ عذراً .. أملاً في اقتناصِ فرصةٍ مناسبةٍ أو مزاجٍ رائقٍ أو صباحٍ ماطرٍ أو أمسيةٍ شاعِرة. وَلم أدركَ أن أعذاراً كهذه لا تليقِ بغيرِ الأعمال العابرة الصغيرة.. تلكَ التي نجترُّ أحداثها بتململِ قطّةٍ متطلَّبة. أمّا إنجازٌ كـ"الكوميديا" لا تملكُ عندهُ إلا أن تنفكَّ قهراً من عوالمك الرتيبة لتقعَ في ثراءِ عوالمه الآسرةِ وكثافتها وتباينها المدهشين. سيهبط بكَ دانتي من غفلةِ "اليمابيسِ" إلى منازلِ الجحيم.. وَمروراً بعتباتِ المطهرِ يعرجُ بروحكَ إلى مراتبِ الفردوسِ سماءً سماءَ.. وَأنشودةً أنشودة، ترنيمةً كانت أم تضرّعاً، ابتهالَ متطهّرٍ أم تسبيحَ قدّيسٍ أم شهقةَ ملعون.. ستُصغي فسمعكَ اليومَ "حديد".



"عملٌ يكثّفُ لحظةً مفصليّةً من تاريخ إيطاليا وَالعالم، ومن صراع الكنيسة والدولة، والعقل والإيمان، وَالشرق والغرب، كما يبلور تجربةً شخصية ندر أن عرفنا ما يضارعها في الشجاعة والعمق ومواصلة المغامرة الروحية والشعرية حتى أقصاها" ص. 15



كوميديا دانتي الإلهية تتجاوز الكوميديا بما هيَ خِفّةٌ وَدُنوَّ شأن، فإن صنَّفَ ابن فلورنسةَ منحوتته الفريدة – التي استغرقته ما يقارب الثلاثة عشر عاماً – بمقاييسَ أرسطيّةَ لعاميّةِ لغته أو لمختتمِ متنه، لا يغيبُ عن أيِّ قارئ أن ما بينَ يديهِ رحلةٌ مضنيةٌ أشبه بتسلِّقِ جبال الأولمب للُقيا الآلهة أو بامتطاءِ البحرِ في مغامرةٍ عوليسية. دانتي لم يخلق الإيطالية بحبرِ ريشتهِ فحسب، بل أعادَ نضدَ العوالمِ الأرضية والأخرويةِ، وَأيقظَ حواسَّها على جواهرِ السمعِ وَالبصر. جعلَ دانتي من حُبِّهِ لـ"بياتريشي" مأثرةً كونيّةً استدعى لها أرواحَاً وثنيةً ومسيحيّة – من فيرجيليو حتّى توما الإكويني -، وَبرأَ ظواهرَ فيزيائيةً وَأسطورية، وَسخّرَ زمانَ الرومانيةِ - قبل المسيحِ وَبعده على حدٍّ سواء – ليمجِّدَ هذا المُنجَزَ العظيمَ وَيختطَّ لمبدعهِ مقاماً أعظم.


"إن ابن فلورنسة يعمد إلى قراءة مجهرية لأدنى تفاصيل تجربته في أبعادها الذاتية والتاريخية، الواقعية والخيالية. من هنا قيل عن عمله إنه أكبر تظاهرةٍ فنيةٍ للذاكرة. تُقبل المعطيات إليه وتسعفها على الفور بنْيات لغةٍ ناشئة أضاف لها هو الكثير فيما يكتب، مثلما قيل إن قوافي اللغة الإيطالية كانت تأتي إليه راكضة وتروح تتوالد تحت بنانه." ص. 122



أمَّا الجهدُ الذي بذله المبدع "كاظم جهاد" ليُخرِجَ للعربية مَتناً بهذه القوّةِ وذا التماسك، فحريٌّ بأن نرفَعَ له العمائمَ وَالقُبَّعات. المترجمُ لم يكتفِ بحدودِ الأصلِ، بل جَهُدَ ليطّلعَ على مختلف الترجماتِ سواءً الصادر منها باللغة العربيّة أو بما كان في متناول معرفته من اللغات الأخرى. كما أمدَّ ترجمتهُ بحواشيَ مستفيضةٍ تخدمُ النصَّ شروحاً وَتعليقاتٍ وَنقدا، وَأوجزَ في مدخله النقدي أهمَّ القراءاتِ التي تناولت "الكوميديا الإلهية".. على رأسِها قراءات بورخيس وَجاكلين ريسيه (الشاعرة الفرنسيّة التي استعان جهاد بترجمتِها كثيراً في عمله هذا). هذا المدخل الذي أجَّلتُ المُضيَّ فيه شغَفاً بالمتن، غير إني ما إن فرغت منه حتى وجدتني بأمسِّ الحاجةِ لقراءةٍ ثانيةٍ للكوميديا، ذلكَ أنَّ موجزَ القراءاتِ النقدية يُضئ جوانبَ في النصِّ يغفلُ عنها القارئ البسيطُ العابرُ – مثلي – إلى تخومِ المعنى، كما يعيدُ تعريفَ تجربتنا القرائية وَيوسِّعَ مداها.

Apenas 50 anos após a sua morte, Florença que tinha exilado Dante (1265-1321), resolveu reganhar consciência e como tributo criar o Departamento de Estudos da Divina Comédia, oferecendo o cargo de diretor a Giovanni Boccaccio, poeta que tinha já escrito uma biografia sobre Dante (1357). Depois disso nada mais seria igual, a influência de Dante iria estender-se no espaço e no tempo, influenciando criações em todos os media e artes, como nenhuma outra obra, talvez rivalizada apenas pela própria Bíblia. Dante foi perseguido em vida, mas imortalizado na sua morte.

[Para ler com imagens e links, seguir para: https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.pt/...]

Não é hoje muito relevante compreender os problemas de Dante em Florença já que as razões se prenderam com os clãs familiares da época e a relação entre a igreja e os governos. Mas é importante compreender que a Divina Comédia, escrito em exílio, funciona como uma espécie de resposta a todos aqueles que o perseguiram, uma vez que vão sendo amiúde distribuídos pela jornada encetada, do Inferno ao Paraíso, passando pelo Purgatório. Talvez não tenha sido fácil para muitos, ler no texto, escrito na língua comum, o Toscano e que viria a servir de base ao Italiano de hoje, acessível a toda a população letrada e não apenas a elite, os pecados e os potenciais castigos esperados. Num tempo, ainda muito dominado pela obscuridade, ver plasmado num conjunto de linhas a descrição daquilo que os esperava após a morte, terá tido o seu efeito. Mas talvez mais interessante, é que esse efeito, talvez pensado por Dante, foi muito para além dos seus alvos e tempo, nos séculos que se sucederam, mesmo com o Renascentismo e depois o Iluminismo, Dante continuou a pairar sobre nós, e isso é em parte aquilo que mais me intrigou ao longo de toda a leitura, e que procurei tentar perceber, tanto a partir do texto como de leituras adicionais.


"Os círculos do Inferno de Dante" (1481) de Sandro Botticelli


"Inferno" (1826) por William Blake

Mas antes de entrar nessa discussão, quero dar conta de forma muito sucinta do impacto que já referi acima, mas referindo alguns exemplos. Assim a originalmente intitulada “Comedia”, seria rebatizada de “Divina Comédia” por Boccaccio, especula-se que muito por influência da terceira parte, o Paraíso, de que falarei a seguir. No século seguinte, nada menos que Sandro Botticelli (1481) desenvolverá o primeiro grande conjunto de ilustrações para a “Divina Comédia”. Depois, Geoffrey Chaucer, que tal como Dante, se tornaria pai de uma das línguas de hoje, no caso o Inglês, com a sua obra “The Canterbury Tales” (1483), não só traduziria como reconheceria nas suas obras a influência de Dante. Depois em 1667 seria a vez de John Milton confrontar diretamente a obra a de Dante com o seu grande poema épico “Paraíso Perdido”. Balzac também não se coibiria de batizar a sua série de romances sociais como “A Comédia Humana” (1850), numa clara referência à Comédia. Depois William Blake faria mais um conjunto de ilustrações para a Divina Comédia (1826), mas a sua morte impossibilitaria terminar o trabalho iniciado, contudo esse mesmo seria retomado por Gustave Doré (1861) que viria a oferecer à obra uma ilustração por canto, e de tal forma relevante, que nos dias de hoje se torna quase indissociável da Comédia. Ainda no século XIX a música faria grandes homenagens, com "A Sinfonia de Dante" por Liszt (1856) e "Francesca da Rimini" de Tchaikovsky (1876). Já no século XX, Salvador Dali (1950) não poderia passar sem realizar uma tentativa de ilustrar a Comédia, e por fim não poderia deixar de citar, a fantástica escultura a “Porta do Inferno” por Auguste Rodin (1917).


“Porta do Inferno” (1917) de Auguste Rodin

Contudo o reconhecimento não se limita às artes. Fora delas, na própria ciência, Dante foi reconhecido, e pode-se dizer mesmo que pode ter servido de motor a algumas das principais ideias da Renascença italiana, existindo quem associe o pensamento de Galilei Galileu à Divina Comédia. A verdade é que lendo a obra, por várias vezes nos deparamos com ideias sobre a realidade baseadas em ciência e não mero senso comum, desde a Terra esférica, à força da gravidade, passando pela astronomia, e até o próprio método experimental. Isto demonstra várias coisas, primeiro que a idade média, ainda que aqui tardia, não foi as trevas que durante muitos anos se venderam e que tiveram de esperar pela Renascença para voltar à vida. Por outro lado, Dante cita abundantemente Aristoteles e vários outros pensadores gregos e romanos, ou seja a sua formação estava muito longe de se encerrar por um véu teológico, como por vezes a obra parece querer fazer crer.


Dante Alighieri

Aliás, tenho de dizer que talvez aquilo que mais me impressionou na leitura de Dante, foi a avidez com que referenciava autores e criadores, das artes, ciência e teologia. Aliás, veja-se desde logo o facto de Dante iniciar a sua jornada pelo Inferno pela mão de ninguém menos do que o poeta do grande épico da Roma Antiga, Virgilio, com quem vai dialogando trazendo para dentro da sua obra factos da história de Roma. Mas são inúmeras as citações, e por isso a certa altura questionava-me sobre algo que já me fui questionando nesta minha senda pela leitura dos clássicos, e que tem que ver com a proximidade entre o discurso académico e o discurso das obras clássicas imortais. São raras as obras que perduraram, que não referenciaram quem veio antes de si. Se numa primeira impressão podemos ficar com aquela ideia do senso comum, de que o autor está apenas a dar espaço à vaidade de mostrar que conhece, na verdade é muito mais do que isso, sendo homenagem, é mais, porque é antes o reconhecimento do conhecimento e civilização até ali construída. É identificação com as ideias e mundo dos que nos precederam, para a partir deles ir mais longe. O conhecimento só se eleva assente nos ombros daqueles que nos precederam. É por isso que é importante estudá-los, lê-los, conhecê-los. Não se cria no vazio, ou cria, mas nunca teríamos chegado até ao ponto civilizacional em que nos encontramos, se cada um de nós, tivesse sempre reiniciado o processo do zero.

Por isso não admira ler Cervantes, Shakespeare, ou Virgilio, ou ainda Marco Aurélio e Montaigne, ou mais recentemente Dostoiévski, Tolstoi, Vitor Hugo, Emile Zola, Proust, Mann, ou Pessoa, e ver como eles não têm pudor em homenagear quem serviu para que se elevassem acima do que existia. E por isso também não admira que Dante seja referenciado por T.S. Eliot, E.M. Forster, Jorge Luis Borges, Primo Levi, Samuel Beckett, Bret Easton Ellis, David Fincher, Stephen King ou Dan Brown. Dante tornou-se referência obrigatória para quem precisa de referir o lugar do inferno, e por isso o seu nome viria a assumir a forma de adjetivo, para qualificar tudo aquilo que ao inferno diz respeito.


"Purgatório" (1960's) de Salvador Dali


"Se7en" (1995) de David Fincher

Esta referência ao inferno por Dante, ou melhor, a omnipresença de Dante nas referências ao inferno, fizeram com que a certa altura acreditasse que Dante poderia ter sido o grande responsável pela criação de tal figura, ou pelo menos no instigador das imagens horrendas que o inferno possui no imaginário ocidental, mas não é assim. Dante baseia-se no conhecimento da altura, existiam vários relatos teológicos que se apresentavam como descrições factuais daquilo que seria o inferno, o purgatório e o paraíso. Aliás, nas minhas pesquisas encontrei mesmo uma visualização desse mesmo inferno, que não dista muito daquilo que Dante nos viria a dar, criada para uma enciclopédia medieval, a “Hortus Deliciarum” (1195) (ver imagem abaixo), por uma mulher, a abadessa Herrad de Landsberg. Já não surpreende ver mulheres surgirem na frente de muitos homens, tem sido já neste século que temos vindo a descobrir a história de grandes mulheres deixadas na obscuridade — ex. Ada Lovelace, Hedy Lamarr ou Katherine Johnson. Neste caso Landsberg vivia com a sua ordem enclausurada num convento, usando esta enciclopédia para o ensino.


"Inferno" (1195) por Herrad de Landsberg

Voltando ao texto, mas antes ainda primeiro ao processo de leitura, para poder dar conta da experiência da obra. Comecei pela tradução de Vasco Graça Moura, mas ao fim de poucas páginas parei, não pela dificuldade de leitura apenas, mas por ter percebido que não se pode ler Dante sem ler primeiro um conjunto de outras obras. Dante viaja ao inferno pela mão de Virgilio, desse modo é obrigatório ler antes a “Eneida”, a obra maior de Virgilio. Por outro lado, a Eneida é um relato baseado no pós-guerra de Tróia, de modo que se torna obrigatório ler antes também a "Ilíada" e a "Odisseia". Seria interessante ler ainda algumas tragédias gregas de Sófocles, Ésquilo e Eurípedes, já que elas acrescentam bastante à mitologia de Homero, mas não o fiz, e como já tinha lida a "Odisseia", li então a "Ilíada" e "Eneida", e voltei a Dante. Ao chegar de novo à Comédia, fui confrontado com o facto de ter lido a “Eneida” na tradução portuguesa mais comum, dos colegas da Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa, e que está em prosa. Resolvi então procurar traduções em prosa da Comédia, já que as em verso que tinha visto eram bastante inferiores à de Moura. Foi assim que encontrei a belíssima tradução do escritor brasileiro, Hernâni Donato, para a Cultrix, de 1979, que acabou por me abrir as portas a Dante de uma forma que não encontrei em mais nenhuma outra tradução.

Em termos académicos, a tradução de Moura é irrepreensível, e para quem quiser estudar a obra em profundidade, não existe alternativa, até porque a obra vem no formato bilingue, com o texto original lado a lado. Mas para quem quiser entrar no mundo de Dante, experimentar a sua imaginação, Donato faz um belíssimo trabalho. Moura faz uma tradução excepcional, totalmente colada ao original, usando inclusive português arcaico, e acima de tudo, mantendo a “terça rima” (ABA, BCB, CDC, DED) de Dante. Ora o problema, para além do vocabulário arcaico, é que a rima usada por Dante acabou por condicionar, se assim quisermos dizer, o conteúdo em virtude da forma. Ou seja, a economia de texto exigida pelos versos, aliada ao facto de Dante estar a apontar o dedo a figuras conhecidas, conduziu Dante a construir um texto que vai mascarando ideias, nomeadamente pelo minimalismo, que deixa de fora da compreensão quem não detenha uma base de contexto sobre a obra e o autor. E é essa contextualização que Donato faz muito bem na conversão para prosa, não apenas com notas de rodapé, mas na reconstrução dos sentidos do texto. Por outro lado, a versão de Moura consegue um tom muito mais próximo de Dante, algo a que Donato claramente foge. Na leitura de Moura, sentimos a rispidez, o cru e vulgaridade que Dante quis denotar pelo uso da língua comum, o italiano. Já Donato, acaba por embelezar bastante o texto, mantendo as três partes sempre num mesmo tom, prazeiroso e muito acolhedor, mas igual. Ainda para ajudar à leitura, comprei também o livro das ilustrações de Gustave Doré, que fui usando apenas quando terminava cada livro, para poder confrontar o que tinha lido e sentido, com as visualizações proporcionadas por Doré que de certo modo acabam funcionando como sínteses de cada canto.

Dito tudo isto, de que fala afinal a Divina Comédia? Julgo que isso não tem nada de novo, é sobejamente conhecido, mas aqui fica. A obra está dividia em três livros, com 33 cantos cada um, à exceção do primeiro que tem mais um que serve de introdução, perfazendo os 100 cantos. O primeiro livro retrata o Inferno, e é o mais conhecido, assim como o mais popular, tanto para quem lê, como para quem acusa a influência de Dante. O relato é muito direto, vamos pela mão de Dante, que pela sua vez vai pela mão de Virgilio, ao longo dos vários círculos que constituem o Inferno, e no qual vamos encontrando as figuras mais macabras, sendo que Dante não se coíbe de listar quem da sua realidade ali vai encontrando. Dante não morreu, a sua descida ao Inferno, deve-se ao facto de ir atrás da sua amada, Beatrice, que morreu. Por isso Dante é um ser-vivo que se passeia pelo mundo dos mortos gerando muita interrogação e má-disposição nalguns dos membros desse mundo que vai encontrando.


"Beata Beatrix" (1870) de Dante Gabriel Rossetti

No segundo livro descemos/subimos (pela inversão esférica do mundo) ao Purgatório e é onde vamos encontrar um novo conjunto de personagens também reais, que aguardam pela sua conversão ou purga dos pecados. É neste livro que Dante ilustra os 7 Pecados Capitais, ou vícios — Gula, Avareza, Luxúria, Ira, Inveja, Preguiça e Soberba — que estão dispersos por cada círculo do Purgatório. Este livro é menos envolvente que o primeiro, porque menos claro no que pretende dizer, até porque os personagens estão em trânsito, e existe muita indefinição.

No último livro, chegamos ao Paraíso, o fim da viagem, agora já não com Virgilio, mas pela mão de Beatrice que nos leva à presença de algumas das figuras mais relevantes de Roma e da história cristã —São Tomás de Aquino, São Francisco de Assis, Carlos Magno, Trajano, Constantino, alguns apóstolos, Adão — até ao estágio final do encontro com Deus. Por isso dizia acima, que o acrescento de Divina ao Comédia, por Bocaccio fazia todo o sentido. Neste livro sentimos o aspeto teológico muito presente, mas ao mesmo tempo uma espécie de liberação de Dante, como se os questionamentos lançados iluminassem o caminho, e tornassem mais claro o propósito não só da viagem, mas do todo.

Da minha experiência retiro essencialmente o sentimento de proximidade com a História que o livro me proporcionou, e que não tinha sentido tanto com Homero, apesar de ter sentido com Marco Aurélio. Durante a leitura senti como se viajasse no tempo, como se as linhas que tinha na mão fizessem parte de um tempo remoto, e eu tivesse o enorme privilégio de aceder por meio delas a esse tempo. A leitura funcionou em certa medida, como quando visitamos um monumento histórico, com séculos de história e nos sentamos ali por um pedaço de tempo, a imaginar o que teriam pensado e vivido as pessoas que por ali passaram séculos ou milhares de anos antes de nós. Como se as pedras nos pudessem transmitir parte dessa História, vidas passadas, mas contudo plasmadas em pedras trabalhadas, e aqui nas palavras de Dante, escritas há 700 anos.


"O Empíreo" (1861) por Gustave Doré

Como disse no início, Dante é um dos poucos imortais, e explicar porquê não é fácil, porque estão implicadas imensas variáveis, não é apenas o texto, é também a sua forma, a língua escolhida, o momento da sua escrita, a região em que foi escrito, e depois tudo o que foram dizendo aqueles que lhe sucederam. Contudo acredito que para além de tudo o que já disse acima, o facto de ter escrito sobre um tema que a todos toca de muito perto, e tê-lo feito com tanta naturalidade, ainda que contaminado de muitas ilusões impostas pelas lógicas religiosas, contribuiu para que todos os que vieram depois dele, se tivessem interessado em saber o que tinha para nos dizer. Ler hoje Dante já não se faz para encontrar respostas, mas não deixa de nos ajudar a compreender de onde viemos, nomeadamente para todos os que fazem parte da sociedade ocidental marcada pela matriz cristã.

Publicado no VI em:
https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.pt/...

When, disappearing, from our hemisphere,
The world's enlightener vanishes, and day
On all sides wasteth, suddenly the sky,
Erewhile irradiate only with his beam,
Is yet again unfolded, putting forth
Innumerable lights wherein one shines.
Of such vicissitude in heaven I thought,
As the great sign, that marshaleth the world
And the world's leaders, in the blessed beak
Was silent; for that all those living lights,
Waxing in splendour, burst forth into songs,
Such as from memory glide and fall away.

****

"O thou Almighty Father, who dost make
The heavens thy dwelling, not in bounds confin'd,
But that with love intenser there thou view'st
Thy primal effluence, hallow'd be thy name:
Join each created being to extol
Thy might, for worthy humblest thanks and praise
Is thy blest Spirit. May thy kingdom's peace
Come unto us; for we, unless it come,
With all our striving thither tend in vain.
As of their will the angels unto thee
Tender meet sacrifice, circling thy throne
With loud hosannas, so of theirs be done
By saintly men on earth. Grant us this day
Our daily manna, without which he roams
Through this rough desert retrograde, who most
Toils to advance his steps. As we to each
Pardon the evil done us, pardon thou
Benign, and of our merit take no count.
'Gainst the old adversary prove thou not
Our virtue easily subdu'd; but free
From his incitements and defeat his wiles.
This last petition, dearest Lord! is made
Not for ourselves, since that were needless now,
But for their sakes who after us remain.

****

We from the bridge's head descended, where
To the eighth mound it joins, and then the chasm
Opening to view, I saw a crowd within
Of serpents terrible, so strange of shape
And hideous, that remembrance in my veins
Yet shrinks the vital current. Of her sands
Let Lybia vaunt no more: if Jaculus,
Pareas and Chelyder be her brood,
Cenchris and Amphisboena, plagues so dire
Or in such numbers swarming ne'er she shew'd,
Not with all Ethiopia, and whate'er
Above the Erythraean sea is spawn'd.

Amid this dread exuberance of woe
Ran naked spirits wing'd with horrid fear,
Nor hope had they of crevice where to hide,
Or heliotrope to charm them out of view.
With serpents were their hands behind them bound,
Which through their reins infix'd the tail and head
Twisted in folds before. And lo! on one
Near to our side, darted an adder up,
And, where the neck is on the shoulders tied,
Transpierc'd him. Far more quickly than e'er pen
Wrote O or I, he kindled, burn'd, and chang'd
To ashes, all pour'd out upon the earth.

Teško je izmisliti toplu vodu i reći nešto o ovom vanvremenskom čudu što već nije doslovno milione puta prežvakano, preispitano i prokomentirano. Nema sumnje u uticaj koji je Danteovo maštovito proširenje biblijske teologije imalo u svim sferama italijanske, evropske i svjetske kulture. Struktura Komedije, odabir jezika, i širina Danteovog razumijevanja i poznavanja svijeta je zadivljujuće, ali budimo iskreni najveći dio njenog šarma (za mene kao površnog, neinformisanog i savremenog čitatelja) leži u činjenici da je ovo Danteov lični “burn book” - koktel njegovih ličnih zamjerki, političkih komentara i odlučnosti da sve ljude koje ne simpatiše strpa u pakao.

Božanstvena Komedija je dijete srednjovjekovne ekstremne religioznosti i pristrasnosti čovjeka kome je načinjena nepravda. Intenzivno se oslanja na Bibliju, koristeći njenu strukturu i moralni okvir kao osnovu za svoju viziju zagrobnog života. Ipak, njegovo djelo je duboko lično i subjektivno, sa likovima iz njegovog života, politike i istorije koje sa velikim oduševljenjem koristi u svakoj prilici da nam stavi do znanja šta misli o doslovno svemu.

Direktni citati, psalmi i pasusi Biblije su često prisutni, ali čini se da je nebiblijska hrišćanska mitologija zapravo pravi osnov romana osim ukoliko tlocrti tri zagrobna carstva nisu i tamo ovako detaljno prikazani. Danteov prikaz božanske pravde je vrlo surov i često nelogičan, što odgovara onim nepoznatim gospodnjim putevima, ali uvijek je u svojoj srži oslonjen na njegov lični stav o tome gdje ko treba da završi i kako se do kojeg nivoa savršenosti dolazi. Dante koristi biblijske ličnosti, slike i simbole da opravda svoje stavove, oni ga uvijek podržavaju, ohrabruju ga i savjetuju tako da Božanstvena komedija iako potčinjena biblijskoj teologiji zapravo služi kao kreativna reinterpretacija Biblije oblikovana Danteovim pogledima na svijet. Međutim, ne bih rekao da je ovo samo platforma za rješavanje ličnih sukoba jer kritika političke korupcije, crkve, rasparčanih italijanskih polisa je vrlo validna i uglavnom Dante ima razumne razloge za stavljanje svojih neprijatelja (npr. papa Bonifacije VIII, Filippo Argenti) u pakao (osim kada nisu potpuno sumanuti - mada i tada su u skladu sa moralnim okvirom koji si Dante uspostavlja te je, ako ništa, dosljedan).

Rijetko ko se može pohvaliti uticajem na književnost kao ovaj nosati gospodin, a što je apsolutno zasluženo s obzirom na složenost ovog djela u koje je upleten čitav Danteov život, kompletna klasična antička biblioteka, politika predrenesansne Evrope i Danteovo neprikosnoveno baratanje jezikom čije mogućnosti ispituje do krajnjih granica. Ukratko, limb - najprimamljiviji, pakao - strašan, čistilište - pakao lite, raj - tradicionalno dosadan i naporan.

‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، «دانته» نویسندهٔ ایتالیایی از آن دسته از مذهبی هایست که نوشته هایش برایِ مذهبی هایی همچون شخصِ خودش جالب میباشد و برای خردگرایان و اندیشمندان، نوشته های «دانته» که از موهوماتِ غیر عقلانی بسیاری تشکیل شده است، هیچگونه گیرایی و جذابیتی ندارد، حتی اگر به چشمِ طنز به این موهومات نگاه کنیم... تنها موردِ قابل توجه در این کتاب، ترجمهٔ بسیار عالی از مردِ خردمند «شجاع الدین شفا» بود.. درود بیکران بر ایشان
‎عزیزانم، در این کتاب نیز شما چیزی جز موهومات و خزعبلاتِ دینی و مذهبی چیزی نمیبینید، وگرنه مطمئن باشید از آن در کتبِ درسی بچه هایِ بیخبر از همه جایِ ایرانی، یاد نمیکردند... هرچه نوشته های موهوم و خرافاتِ مذهبی وجود دارد در کتب درسی فرزندانِ سرزمینمان چپانده شده است
‎در "کمدی الهی" نویسنده یعنی «دانته» نه حاضر است کسانی چون بقراط و جالينوس و ابن سينا و مزدک و زرتشت و دمکریت و صدها اندیشمند و انسانِ بزرگ را در آتش دوزخ و جهنم موهوم و احمقانهٔ مذهبیان بسوزاند و نه می تواند آنها را بخاطر مسيحی نبودنشان در بهشت جای دهد، لذا ناگزير پناهگاهی بنام "لیمبو" برای آنان در دوزخِ موهوم می سازد که این خردمندان هم در جهنم باشند و هم از آتش جهنم در امان باشند
‎خوب عزیزانم، شما انتظار دارید چنین نوشته هایی ک�� برگرفته از عقدهٔ بیخردانهٔ مذهبی و دینی میباشد را با لذت بخوانیم و از آن تعریف و تمجید کنیم!؟ هیچ خردمندی به بهشت و جهنمِ موهومِ ادیانِ گوناگون و بخصوص ادیانِ پوچِ سامی اعتقاد ندارد
‎عزیزان و نورِ چشمانم، دقت کنید که تا چه اندازه منطق این ادیان و مذهب های سامی ابلهانه میباشد... یعنی بهشت موهومشان که بیشتر به فاحشه خانه شباهت دارد و صبح تا شب همه بر روی آلتِ یکدیگر ووول میخورند، برای خودشان است.. جهنمشان نیز برای کسانی که به ادیان بند تمبانی و غیر انسانی سامی (یهودیت-مسیحیت-اسلام) اعتقاد ندارد و خردگرا بوده اند... یعنی تکليف همهٔ آنهایی که پيش از ظهور مسیحیت و اسلام، به جهان آمده و از جهان رفته اند چه می شود؟ از پيدايش نخستين انسان ها در روی زمين حدوداً سه ميليون سال و از پيدايش انسان های امروزی 30 تا 35 هزار سال می گذرد. اولين تمدن ها نيز پنج تا هفت هزار سال پيش شکل گرفته اند، در صورتيکه از آغاز مسيحيت تنها دو هزار سال و از ظهور اسلام تنها هزار و چهارصد سال می گذرد. اگر هيچکدام از آدميانی که پيش از اين دوهزار ساله در روی زمين زيسته اند راهی به بهشت نداشته باشند به چه دليلی، و با چه مجوزی بايد اين راه را نداشته باشند؟ و تازه در ميان آدميان همين دوهزار ساله نيز، آنهائيکه چون بوميان آمريکایی يا استراليایی يا مردم آفريقا اساساً نامی از مسيحيت يا از اسلام نشنيده و با آنها آشنائی نداشته اند چرا بايد تا ابد و تا جهان باقیست، در آتش دوزخ بسوزند يا در بی تکليفی برزخ بسر برند؟
‎این منطق بتِ «اللهِ اکبر» تازیان است!؟ یا گربهٔ سوخته شده در صندوق «یهووه»!!؟ یا منطق خدای عیسی!؟ این چه قانونِ ابلهانه و نابخردانه ای است؟!؟ مذهبی ها و به خصوص عرب پرستان، آنقدر به این موهومات و خزعبلات اعتقاد داشته باشید تا مغزتان از این پوچ تر شود
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‎امیدوارم این ریویو برایِ شما خردگرایانِ آگاه، مفید بوده باشه
‎«پیروز باشید و ایرانی»

Dante's Divine Comedy is the worst book that I have read in my life, and that means a lot, because I also have read "Twilight", well at least tried the first 50 pages. Dante's imagery is powerful, yet it serves no purpose.

Basically Dante goes through hell, just watching people suffer, through eternity, then goes to purgatory and then to heaven where he finally meets Beatrice. Even though poem is written in three line stanzas and each line has exactly 11 syllables it is not lyrical at all, it is impossible to read on, the sentences are written in a manner that makes one wonder where the first idea stopped and where the second one began.
Dante simply posed his opinions on what is the "Worst" sin, he sent people who were born before Christianity was formed to hell, some to suffer in deeps of hell and some were in the first circle, and ALL of them were repenting.

I can't even imagine what was passing in Dante's mind when he was writing all those tortures, my personal theory is that he had serious mental disorder. Undoubtedly the Comedy has it's value as the first book of Renaissance( or last book before Renaissance, make your pick), but it is of no importance today, it can give no joy to the reader, and the ideas expressed in the book are rare, old-fashioned and sometimes stupid. Overall, don't waste your time reading the Divine Comedy, unless of course you enjoy these kinds of books, or you have it as a task in your Literature syllabus, and have to write a literary analysis on it (like me).

Dante? Awesome! I’ve always wanted Brent to review a game from the Devil May Cry series! Which one did you play?

Er… well, let me explain. I wanted a space with my new website design to talk about video games—I love them. But I also want to, from time to time, engage with other media. “What I’m Playing?” fits in a shorter space than “What form of media is Brent playing or reading or watching, and what particular title currently, and what is his take on that?”

So, uh, really this sidebar is “Brent’s Brain at Play” … so, yeah, it’s false advertising. Sorry.

I’ve just re-read The Divine Comedy for the first time since four miserable weeks in 1995. Miserable not because I hated Dante. I read the Dorothy Sayers translation in terza rima, and I loved much of it. The misery came from the class: Freshman Honors English, semester 1. This was my introduction to college. One semester, one class: 4,200 pages of reading.

I still believe this was the class that convinced the smartest student in the college—I’m talking ‘pun in Latin and expect others to laugh along with you’ smart—to drop out and become a priest. Little known fact: that kid punched me in the face once. (A little known fact that will doubtless come up when he’s up for canonization—he was a pretty darn good guy. Is still, I assume!) It was not the only fight I got into in college, oddly enough, though it was the only one where I didn’t hit back… So I guess you could say I… lost?

But c’mon, you try to hit back after a future pope punches you. If the word ‘discombobulating’ had been invented for any legitimate purpose, it would have been for that moment. (But that’s a pure hypothetical. Don’t combobulate if you hope to copulate, nerds.)

But I digress. Every student in Honors English 101 had a B or lower. (B- here.) Our professor was a poet. He really liked the word “wen”. No further explanation needed, right? The end of the semester was fast approaching. Panic set in for all these kids who’d never earned less than an A- in their 18 blesséd years, sir, by my troth!

The professor said we could add AN ENTIRE LETTER GRADE to our grade if we… outlined the entire Divine Comedy. That’s… a trilogy of epic poems.
It was an assignment that would later save my soul. But that’s another story.

Imagine thirty sweating honors class freshmen, some of whom had scholarships riding on their GPA, others—far more importantly—had their entire self-worth riding on their GPA. All of us faced Thanksgiving Break with the shame of a B. It had just become Thanksgiving “Break”.

There were three weeks from Thanksgiving until finals, when the assignment was due. Three weeks in the inferno—or, if one paced oneself correctly, one would only spend one week in Inferno, one in Purgatorio, and the last in Paradiso.

Oh, let me tell you, how those freshmen rejoiced their way through Paradiso. Well, maybe the final canto. Paradiso’s a bit of a slog, dramatically.
Want to see a textbook definition of subclinical triggering? Just whisper “Bernard of Clairvaux” to any veteran of Dr. Sundahl’s H ENG 101.
*insert meme here*

The angel on my right shoulder: *No, really, don’t.*

All this is prologue. (Dizzam, bruh, that’s some Jordan-esque level prologue.)

On to the review.

I was glad to see that after 20 years, Dante hasn’t become dated. Ages well, Ol’ Danny Alighieri. Okay, fine. I should say, “more dated”. One thing in particular struck me repeatedly about Dante, reading him now as a 39-year-old fantasy writer, versus reading him as an 18-year-old college freshman, and I mean so oft-repeated I felt like my face belonged to a P.I. in a noir novel–I mean repeatedly like the bass thunder from the stereo in a 75hp Honda owned by that pepperoni-faced dude who thinks he’s auditioning for Fastest and Even More Furiousest Than Evar:

The chutzpah. The sheer audacity. Dante was writing the work without which he would be forgotten by most everyone except Italian lit majors. He’s coming into this famous but soon to be forgotten, like the English Poet Laureate Robert Southey–you’ve heard of him, right? No. So before Dante’s written his Great Book, he presumes himself into the company of the all-time greats. (He deserves it, but he jumps into that place like that kid challenging Mario Andretti to a quick couple laps for pink slips.)

But not only that. He, a Christian (if one who finds himself lost along the Way in the dark wood of middle age), readily consigns foes and even acquaintances—some not yet dead, if I remember correctly—to Hell. If there’s one thing the modern mainstream Christian doesn’t do, it’s to presume the eternal destination of others. As C.S. Lewis said, (paraphrasing) “When we get to Heaven, there will be surprises.” That lack of presumption is bolstered on our culture’s favorite partial Scripture “Judge not lest ye be judged” which goes on “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Most Christians today are like, “Yeah, I’d prefer a really lenient measure, thanks. So I’ll just not presume to judge anyone else, either. Plus, not judging at all gets me thrown out of way fewer parties.” Dante, not so much. He’s like, “This pope from a few years back? Totally burning in Hell, right now. Look at the evil he did!”

Dante does this while, as far as I can tell (as a non-medievalist, and no longer even a Roman Catholic) remaining himself orthodox. He doesn’t question the pope’s authority as it was understood then. Check this example out: that evil pope who himself is burning in hell? He’d corrupted one of his own courtiers, who had previously been some kind of shady guy, but repented, turning his back on all the evil he’d done earlier in his life. (Think like Godfather 3.) The kicker? Evil Popey makes him go back! (“I try to get out and the Pope (!) keeps pulling me back in!”) Evil Pope gets him to betray some folks, by promising our repentant Michael Corleone, “Hey, yeah what I’m asking you to do is evil, but I’ll forgive you for all this evil you do for me. I’m the Vicar of Christ, so I can totally give you an Evil Pass.” So the courtier does said evil stuff. And gets ‘pardoned’.

Now the demons in hell that Dante encounters are super pissed, because “Hey, that guy should totally belong to us! He did evil stuff!”

But Dante DOESN’T question that the evil pope effectively uses a loophole to get around God’s perfect justice. Nope. That courtier guy is heading for heaven—except the demons later tricked him into committing suicide by demons, a sin for which the pope apparently forgot to preemptively forgive him for.

This whole episode is listed as proof that the pope was evil: he used his authority to pervert eternal justice. That’s really, really bad. Later Protestants would say, “This is redonkulus! No one gets to use a loophole to escape God! That’s the whole point of eternal justice: often on Earth justice isn’t served, but we can deal with that because we know no one can escape God’s justice. If your doctrine lets people fool God, your doctrine is wack, yo. [Also, that you have Evil Popes in the first place seems to point out a problem in your system.]”

Dante’s audacity though, goes further than merely presuming himself in the company of the greatest of the greats, and also being comfortable judging the quick and the dead: Dante sets out to out-epic Homer and Virgil.

Homer [with a battered old harp, ratty beard, and mismatched sandals–dude’s blind, give him a break on the fashion policing, people]: “Friends, Achaians, countrymen, lend me your ears. I’mma tell you about big war and a big voyage with the ideal Greek man.”

Homer’s poetry and story-telling, his nuance and his imagery would capture and define an entire culture, and deeply influence many others through the present. It’s hard to overstate his impact.

Virgil [strides forth in a solid gold toga, taking a bit of snuff from a slave]: “No offense, old sport, but your hero was bollocks, Homes. He was actually the bad chap, and not nearly as wonderful as you make him out to be. Let’s talk about that Trojan War thing, and I’ll subvert the Hades out of your narrative.”

Oh snap.

Virgil is a master of poetry and storytelling who is self-consciously telling the story of an entire people and their founding mythos, (small) warts and all (sorry ’bout that, Dido! a real James Bond always loves ’em and leaves ’em… burning!). Virgil meant his epic to be studied and admired by audiences high and low, and he meant to define his Romans as the best of the best. Sort of “the arc of history is long, but it bends toward Rome.”

Dante [ambles up in a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and bell-bottoms]: “You guys are far out. Wish I could have heard your stuff, Home-bre, I’ve heard it’s real groovy, but the Saracens haven’t invaded yet with their hippie zeal to give us the LP bootleg translations of your work from the Greek. Sing it for me sometime. I’m sure I’ll dig it. Anyway, bros, thanks for inviting me to your drum circle here, but never start a land war in Asia unless you’re the Mongols, never get in a wit-fight to the death with a guy named Westley, and never, ever invite John Bonham to your drum circle. You guys thought small. Nah, it’s cool and everything, but really? Some guy on a boat? Some other pious guy on a different boat who lost a war to the first guy? I’mma let you finish swiftly here, but I’m going to tell the story of all creation, do world-building that includes the entire universe—both the physical and metaphysical worlds: earth, hell, purgatory, and heaven, AND show how my main man Jesus changed everything, aided in my quest by numerous holy Jesus groupie chicks and the spirit of Virgil himself. Hope you’re down with that, Virg. I mean, you’re an Italian, I’m an Italian, we’re pretty much bros, but I’m like your intellectual successor and stuff? Oh yeah, and because I’m after Christ, I really have an unfair advantage on you, because you were the bee’s knees. Seriously, love your stuff, I even own the b-sides of your pastoral poetry. So if I’m a little better than you, it’s purely happenstance: You came before Ludwig drums and Remo drumheads, man! If someone told you ‘More cowbell!’ you’lda been like ‘A cowbell? In music? What’s next, balancing a shield on a post and banging on it with a stick?!’ By the way, I use Paiste cymbals. I’ll show you later.”

That story of all creation includes the pagans. Dante also sets about to reconcile, or at least appropriate, the gods and monsters of antiquity—though sometimes not very successfully. I’m like, Hey, big D, if some of the figures of Greek mythology are real, are all of them? If they’re real and they did some of the stuff we’ve heard they did, where was God in that? Are these all actually just demons just playin’ around? Fess up, c’mon. You can tell me, buddy, I understand. You just wanted monsters, didn’tcha? You got stuck on that one part and were like, How can I get Dante and Virgil out of this one? Oh, I know! A big ass dragon flies up out of the pit, scares the bejeepers out of them, and then totally lets them become the Dragonriders of Burn and head on down further!

Oh, did I mention that while doing all this, Dante maintains that he’s writing on four levels at once: 1) The literal (which, you know, literally means the literal, the stuff that happens—hey, I write on that level too!). 2) The allegorical (that is, there’s what he calls “truth hidden beneath a beautiful fiction”) so being lost in a dark wood in your middle years might be an allegory for getting lost in your life, or even a mid-life crisis. 3) The moral (which explores the ethical implications of a work of fiction) so what do you think about Odysseus sitting on the beach crying to go home to his wife every day, and then banging goddesses every night? What do you learn about the power of hope or forgiveness when Luke Skywalker confronts Darth Vader? That’s the moral level; and 4) The anagogical. Yeah, you’re not going to see this word unless you’re talking about Dante, I’d guess. I had to look it up again. I was honestly proud of myself for merely remembering the word. The anagogical is a level of spiritual interpretation. This is when the work captures something that is eternally true. In a Platonic sense, it would be when you step out of the cave and instead of looking at shadows on the wall of thing that are True, you look at the things themselves. For Dante, this is of course expounding scripture in a way that captures “a part of the supernal things of eternal glory”. (Supernal: being of, or coming from, on high.)

This is the level where you say, the characters Dante and his guide Virgil are hiking up Mt Purgatory, but Virgil is literally Virgil, a great poet who lived before Christ and thus is a pagan, so when Dante and Virgil get to the top of Mt Purgatory, Virgil can’t get into Heaven—you need Jesus for that. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. None come to the Father except through me”. (Virgil’s not exactly being punished for being a pagan; he gets to hang out talking with all the other awesome pagans forever.) But Virgil is ALSO an embodiment of Reason, so when Virgil and Dante reach a rad curtain of fire up on the top of Mt Purgatory, Virgil can (as Reason) say, “Bro, you got this. You know there’s people on the other side. You know this is the only way to get there. You therefore know they jumped through this curtain. Ergo, you won’t get fried. Probably. Well, at least not everyone who jumps through gets a thermite sun-tan.”

But Reason can’t go through that curtain himself. The thing that makes you jump through a curtain of fire isn’t, ultimately, reason. Reason can’t get you to Heaven. Thus, the anagogic lesson is that belief is, ultimately, an act of the will. Or, in the common phrase of which this scene may be the origin, one must take a Leap of Faith.

Did I mention Dante’s doing this while writing poetry? And apparently his poetry is pretty good? (Not knowing Italian, I can’t say. The Sayers translation I read in college was way more beautiful than the Clive James version I listened to this time. Sorry, Clive, personal preference.)

Now, I should probably address the world-building, too, seeing how world-building is something fantasy writers ought to know something about. (Yes, hecklers in the back, I hear you. Notice the caveat ‘ought to’? Now run along and play. With scissors.) In the mind of your inconsistently humble correspondent, Dante’s world-building is bold, presumptuous, brilliant, and a blithering mess.

Whereas Dante’s treatment of pagan mythology would likely appeal to the common reader and just as likely outrage scholars who knew enough to ask questions, in his world-building, he seems to completely ignore the common readers, and go straight for the art- and map-geeks. You’ve probably seen those elaborate medieval drawings of the world Dante lays out.

(I don’t even know if most of them are faithful to the text or even agree with each other, other than the order of the circles of hell and the like.) On the one hand, this world-building is ingenious. Stunning. (Anyone know if he borrowed most of this, or invented most of it? I know he was synthesizing a lot of speculation and Christian cosmology, but I don’t know how much of his work on this is original.)

It all hangs together, literally and symbolically and morally. Satan is at the center of gravity? Like, literally? At first, you’re like, “Huh?”

Well, he’s got to have his head visible in hell; he’s the king there, and he’s got to be scary. How scary is a guy with buried head-down with his butt in the air like a North Dakotan bike rack? (Sorry, old Montanan North Dakota joke there.) But when you think further, well, hell has inverted values, so after you come past him at the center of gravity, and into a vast crater–he left a giant crater when he was thrown out of heaven. Of course he did! And here he IS head down and not so scary, but he’s also head down because he’s buried in his sin. He’s at the bottom of a pit. Of course he is! He’s denied the light of heaven, his face must be buried. And so on.

But most of the things that I caught on this second listening, I caught only because of the art I’d seen, and the explication of college professors and footnotes back when I’d read it before. Those professors taught me that the common way for people to experience a book during Dante’s time was most usually that someone would stand and read it to everyone else. (Audiobooks go WAY back.) This is a terrible way to experience what he’s doing, though.

When you only listen to the Divine Comedy, there’s no way for you to understand a lot of the imagery. Not a real quote, but a realistic one: “Then I turned left 90 degrees, and saw, up at the point where the sun was crossing the mountain, another path veering to starboard under the sign of the Cygnus at the fourth hour of the morning” oh, and time moves differently in Purgatory. Or something. I still don’t get that part.

This kind of world-building doesn’t work at all for the medium. Certainly the first listeners wouldn’t have any art or maps to help them figure this stuff out in real time, while the reciter continues reciting the poetry describing this weird journey. So it’s definitely weird, it’s opaque, and it’s kind of bad art–at least, bad world-building for what is, at core, more of a travelogue than an epic adventure.

But it works… for the artists and the map-geeks, who fan art the hell out of it.

Now, I call Dante’s world-building presumptuous because leaving the explanations for all the weirdness intelligible ONLY to those geeks ONLY works because Dante was famous. If he hadn’t been famous already, people would go, “Huh, this doesn’t make sense to me. So it probably doesn’t make sense. What garbage.”

So it kind of works in the way Ikea instructions work–if you’ve got a bunch of Ikea engineers in your living room to help you out: “Oh, that was a concise way to explain that… now that you did it all for me.”

Dan, my boy, that is some… what’s the term for accurate hubris? Oh, self-confidence. I guess it’s still that even when the SELF-CONFIDENCE IS GIANT, YO!

All this! Look at all that! He’s doing all that… and more. At the SAME time! All that, and then… Dante flinches.

Dante gets daunted.

Bro!

Bro.

When this pilgrim who has had to fight past so many lesser demons (using his special access badge that says, I’m-on-a-holy-mission-one-of-the-roadies-from-JC-and-the-Sonshine-Band-says-it’s-cool) finally makes it to Satan’s circle and crosses the frozen lake of Coccytus, do you know what Satan says?

Do you know how Satan addresses the first non-traitor to visit Satan since he was thrown out of Heaven? Satan himself… just doesn’t notice. Sure, the big guy is busy gnawing on Judas, Brutus, and Cassius but he’d been gnawing on those guys for thirteen hundred years!

But nope. Satan says nothing. There’s no, “Yeah, I let you come all the way down here by my satanic will. It was all a trap. Now you can rot with the worst of them. I am literally going to eat your idiot face for eternity!”

There’s no big rescue from the monstrously huge arms and hands as that giant is stuck in the frozen lake of Coccytus. No last minute rescue by an angel.

Nope, Satan just doesn’t notice. Even when Dante grabs onto his hairy ass and climbs around him through the center of the universe where gravity reverses itself and climbs out to go to Mt Purgatory, literally past his butthole. Satan. Doesn’t. Notice. Doesn’t notice the man playing George of the Jungle on his hairy hip. And climbing…Past. His. Butt.

Weaksauce, Ali D! Lotta buildup to go limp at the finish! It’s like you’ve never played a video game in your life.

I’m sure someone can defend it. Great literature of this magnitude will always inspire defenders. But just because something is great in... (READ MORE AT http://www.brentweeks.com/2017/08/wha...)

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.

Nel mezzo del camino di nosotras vita
Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
Che la diritta vía era smaritta

I was lost in my midlife crises
In a jungle of sin, looking for sense