Inferno (The Divine Comedy #1)

I won't even try to praise The Divine Comedy because there's nothing I can say that more learned people haven't already said, most likely in much better prose than I can. This is a great translation in poem format.

BUT

I just could not reconcile myself to the style of narration. The narrator, who has a wonderful voice, chose to apply a breathless, "this is so meaningful" narration style that was off-putting and distracting. I listened to the end of "Inferno", couldn't listen to anymore of the narration style, and I'm now on the search for another audio book version with a different narrator because I. Will. Finish. This. Poem!

Classic tale of the poets travel through the circles of hell. Not sure how this compares to other translations, but felt concise. A short but challenging read.

Psychedelic, strange, extremely physical, and bodily. Dante is the spiritual counterpart of John Carpenter and David Cronenberg,

I feel like you need to take a course in 13th-century Italian politics before reading this book, otherwise you're just reading Dante talk shit about random people.

My edition had no notes or explanations, so I was super confused most of the time and had to stop to google about Guelphs, Ghibellines, and other references that would have been instantly recognizable to a medieval reader but... not to me.

Still, the descriptions of the torture were really interesting, especially when Dante talks about someone you actually know. I also found it super interesting that the book mixes Greco-Roman mythology with Christianity and modern(for the time) subjects.

Overall, it is definitely a book that I will read again when I have more context.