So I got this book on sale a few weeks ago at Barnes and Noble and just opened it up. I would consider myself a "good reader" in a sense of vocabulary and comprehension. The edition I have is pretty adamant about taking notes on the text. Can I get away with just using the footnotes?
I Have no real issue with note taking, it's just not always convenient, and I would like to take this book with me in my travels and whatnot.
Thanks for any input guys.
I read The Divine Comedy (Not just Inferno, but Purgatorio and Paradiso) some years ago. It was probably one of the most difficult books i've ever read. Given that the Epic Poem is around 800 years old (give or take), it's understandable. I've been meaning to go back and read it again, to get a more thorough understanding of it.
I would suggest looking at the Spark Notes of The Inferno, or the Wikipedia page, just to get an idea of what your reading before you actually read it. While footnotes are helpful, and you should read through them before reading the chapter, I believe they take away from the experience (if you're just reading the footnotes). You could also read up on the internet about the different circle of Hell. Anyways, hope this helps.
Regards,
-jn
Just read a couple of pages and see how you get on.....its tricky read, but its no Finnegans Wake
I just read the footnotes and I got most of the social context. Good story, that.
Read the footnotes, but definitely try to power through the text itself. The descriptions are really beautiful, especially with the gluttons...
http://www.online-literature.com/dante/inferno/
Try reading the Cantos out loud or whisper. Also, read each Canto a least twice; once for content, once for context - take notes.
The footnotes are like a bread crumb trail to other excellent mythologies, allusions, and critical theory of the time.
Footnote: Dante A. was proported to have been gone blind in his later years when he wrote the poem and his daughter's wrote his prose which he spoke naturally.
The Marquis De Sade - Juliette - 120 Days of Sodom may be a good read for you. Keep in mind that he was in a dungeon when he wrote it and with his own blood.
T.S. Eliot - Prufrock - used dense footnotes in his writings. Michelangelo - Hamlet (shalespeare).
William Blake - Songs of Innocence and Experience.
"The Marquis De Sade - Juliette - 120 Days of Sodom may be a good read for you. Keep in mind that he was in a dungeon when he wrote it and with his own blood."
Im a little dubious over the whole "in his own blood" part....iv got a feeling this myth grew up around his quote about "wept tears of blood" on believing his single long roll of paper he wrote it on was lost in the storming of the Bastille.
But that's just MHO
Agreed.