In today's video I'll be reviewing The Inferno. The Inferno Written Review: www.instagram.... Find me on Instagram for more bookish content and written book reviews! IG: / alana_estelle
Certainly all you said is true and well-thought out. However, one might mention Dante's inspiration and strength, which was of course the love for a woman. I'm not sure when it starts to come through that the love is reciprocal, but it is Beatrice who saves him when he was fallen so deeply into despair there seems to be only one path for him (explaining why the seventh city - the trees of suicide - is so much better developed than the others). That love between them is, to borrow from Dan Brown, the God particle because God is love even in a time and place when the conception of heaven and hell is a three-dimensional place palpable and discoverable to humans.
@@martasoltys9091 tbh, I had forgot her name but now you point it out of course you're right. Perhaps in our rush to discard absolutely everything we were taught as children we've also forgotten that without a relationship of some kind men tend to flounder, I'm tempted to say like some swollen pieces of flotsam and jetsam.
I cannot think about Beatrice without thinking that she was only, what?, 13 or so when Dante became infatuated with her. Lolita much. Makes one rethink the divine, or at least places this concept in a different light.
@@kurtfox4944 Maybe - of course if you believe in the pre-existence of a soul the bond by G-d between two souls has little to do with how many times the earth twirls around the sun. However, I agree that human mutuality requires a maturity that appears only after the development of autonomy. Then again too there are the existential considerations such as life expectancy during plague years and the necessity for perpetuation of the species. So, to pick up on your point: When in Nabokov's novel did Humpert Humpert first go too far? I'd guess most people would agree it was when he claimed to have "safely solopsized" her.
I think Dante's "Inferno" was the hardest book I've read that I actually managed to finish. There were others that were more challenging that made me tap out midway through ("Finnegan's Wake", "Gravity's Rainbow", "Barefoot in The Head", "The Exegesis of Philip K Dick"), but I read the John Ciardi translation with extensive footnotes, so his guidance helped me make it through to the end. It was definitely challenging reading a book where I spent more time reading the footnotes than the actually text. Still, as I patiently read on, I became astounded with the depth of knowledge of both Dante and Ciardi. There's so much in this book, from Christian doctrine, Catholic Church history, Greco-Roman mythology, world history, Italian history, and Dante's personal life interwoven within the story. I also found it fascinating how Ciardi managed to translate Italian to English and still make the verses rhyme. I found it interesting how Dante showed sympathy for the damned souls in the Inferno. As he was a devout Catholic living in the time when people thought eternal punishment was fair retribution for sin, his sympathy for those suffering God's wrath seems to subtly hint that he may have secretly thought the doctrine of eternal damnation as a bit extreme. Also, with so many references to pre-Christian mythology and intellectual figures, he may have been subtly hinting at his secret reservation towards the absolutism of Church doctrine. At the time he wrote the inferno, these ideas would have been considered heresy, so he had to be careful at how they were presented. Thank you for another great review. You do very thoughtful commentary without pretense and with personality.
This is a difficult one but worth the effort! Really great point about how Dante still had sympathy for those who were damned, especially during his time period!
Dear Alana, i have just discovered your channel and i find you to be in a league of your own as far as book reviews go. Your combination of " boots on the ground" reading approach combined with your sarcasm and other attracting elements of your personality is , in my humble opinion, something really worth watching. First of all, let me congratulate you on taking on such a task of the size and difficulty of reviewing Dante, something that would normally scare the daylight out of many fine academics. I happen to have spent considerable time in Italy , due to a number of connections and as such i am a fan of Dante, not just for waht he wrote but also of his actual persona ( i am lucky to be able to use an italian edition of 1816 in Milan of the Divine Comedy, i wish i could share it with you somehow). Dante is not only quintessentially Italian, he is also quintessentially Florentine and it is really worth paying some attention on the events of his actual life ( his exile and death away from his beloved Florence) . In any case, once again congrats, you are quite a breath of fresh air . Sorry for rambling , i am just excited. I would also remommend that you read Petrarch and Bocaccio , the other two great Florentines, to see the difference in the narrative with regards to the representation of the female character. Once again, kudos and you got yourself a devoted fan. All the best from Athens, Greece.
This is so nice - thank you so much! I really appreciate your kind words. Dante was definitely a challenge for me, but I enjoyed and and I’m looking forward to continuing the Divine Comedy. And thank you for your recommendations!
"Dominus regit me" -- Thanks for the reminder. I've been dealing with a lot of inner resistance; pride as you may call it, that I know better, which I don't. Not ever. Great review. Really, really great review. I had to read this for my lit degree. Reading Inferno was hell, even though Dante Alighieri did a lot for the Italian language, which was mostly different dialects in various places. Still, I'll never forget those bugs crawling inside people's eyes. You did much better with it than I did. Thank you for the analysis. Much appreciated.
Dante essentially invented modern fiction. The first to create a precisely described world and populate it with characters who are more than just archetypes or personifications of various vices or virtues. But Dante put Greek heroes in Hell because he associated them with the siege of Troy. He saw the Romans/Italians as descendants of the Trojans.
You did a fabulous job! Kuddos for creating your own lane here on Booktube👏🏽 I have not read any of Dante’s work and it seems like I should. I’m intrigued with the amount religious themes used…the ability to throw folks in hell is a doozy of a notion😅
I had been wanting to read The Divine Comedy for I don't know how long and when I found out that Baylor Honors College had a "100 Days of Dante" readalong, I got on board. I knew I would need some guidance _onaccounta_ I'm not the brightest crayon in the box! 😂 So, in 2022 I followed their schedule and read one canto each Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then watched a video of various professors break that canto down. Amazing! Anyway, I had no idea I would end up loving it as much as I do and knew it would be a reread, many times over. Maybe I'll do it sooner rather than later - thanks for the nudge. 🤓 As always, fantastic review!
Also, Alana, I think for your millennial fiction project you might want to read a book called “here is the beehive” by Sarah Crossan. It’s very short and bleak and and there’s lots of things to analyse there I think you might like it
@@alanaestelle2076 as you shouldddd and I mean it because some youtubers lose their authenticity over time by pressuring themselves to adjust their personal taste for the sake of views and then the viewers can obviously sense when they get lawst in the sawce but yours is so genuine and cosy I love it keep it up🩷🩷
I know I may sound like a total Philistine for saying this but I'mma say it anyway. I just didn't find Inferno all that great. Maybe the poetry is amazing in the original Italian but I didn't find it very remarkable in English. I also found it really repetitive and boring and not terribly profound. And plus the moralizing I found offputting. Virgil constantly be like, "I know this seems brutal, but trust me, they had it coming!" Like yeah bruh I'm sure those babies you passed a while back sure had it coming. Will I read Purgatorio and Paradiso? Prolly not. Still, I liked hearing your thoughts on Inferno. :)
Although much of what you say is true, apparently the poem is a very highly structured love poem, some of which can be translated across different languages and some lost. The main idea: "I would go to hell for you" comes through and is well-developed but the music of it we can only imagine. As for the imagery, a slowly moving and sharply defined nightmare, certainly Dante accomplished it as well as anyone else before or since. But the rhythm, is that on the translator maybe, I think so. In short, I agree with you that standing alone as a lyrical poem there is room for criticism but generally it is a success in its conception and execution.
Dante isn't celebrating the fate of the condemned. He accepts as it as part of the System that he has no control over. Also, it seems you were looking for "lyricism" and that's not Dante's bag - what he provides is precision - the entire poem is structured in a way that's insanely intricate and layered. You can find all sorts of connections between events in the three Canticles. He also pretty much invented modern fiction.
@TH3F4LCONx I think back to the days when every checkout counter in the supermarket had celebrity rags, like The Enquirer. Media seems to revel (almost plan) to set up a star, only to capitalize on their downfall. Humans, it seems like to worship celebrities and stars, and REALLY love it when they have a come-uppance. These rags sold like hotcakes, week after week. Celebs caught cheating, dating someone new, getting plastic surgery, getting fat. Pretty much the same story every week...yep repetitive. What did they have in 1300s Roman Catholic Italy, pre-Renaissance, pre-Medici. Even pre-Martin Luther and Reformation. A time when there was no TV or radio, no NFL or NBA, no heroes except the suite of Christian saints and where everyone gushes for the Sunday live entertainment of church with its damnation and hellfire sermons. Instead of your favorite Marvel comic superhero fighting the villain-of-the-week, it was a Dante and Virgil visit this level of hell, and another historic celebrity getting roasted (sometimes literally). If you find that repetitive, all I have to say to counter is Spiderman Issue 700 or Batman issue 666 anyone? Superbowl #56 where two of 32 teams will compete, after playing 16 regular season games. Or Nascar and the Daytona 500 - driving 5oo miles in an oval doing nothing but left-hand turns. Using a club to whack a little white ball into a tiny cup in a grassy lawn (or worse yet, watching someone else do that). I'm not judging, nor necessarily disagreeing with anyone... to each their own. At the time and place, it made sense. It was extremely influential (and still is today). I am currently reading Ovid. The concept of Hell and its punishments certainly has changed since Dante... from pushing a boulder up a hill, holding up the earth upon your shoulders, collecting water in a sieve, being strapped to a rock and having your liver plucked out Daily. ... Today, most of our visions of Hell stem from Dante... even manga in Japan. As for the moralizing, well, it is a Christian book about heaven and hell, what did you expect? For the illiterati of the past, some things had to be spelled out pretty clearly for them. I tend to think one should become moral before becoming spiritual. This is not to say that, using today's standards, the book is boring, repetitive and not terribly profound, only that there are many ways to judge a book as being 'great' or not. I think it is a disservice to judge a book 700 years ago, 170 years ago (thinking Uncle Tom's Cabin) or even 50 years ago using today's social, moral and even literary standards. Sometimes it is important to read a book for own's self, to understand its place in history. Reading the original may not seem "terribly profound" today. Given how much we are now immersed in the culture that has been influenced by this book, we almost cannot see how truly impactful it was (and still is). But at the time it was written, well...
Many thanks! I should move Dante up on my reading list. 😃 I like your rap appreciation. Maybe one day a Chris Turner or Harry Mack turns up to do just such book reviews 🎤 🔊🎛️ KD[once]Books brought me here.
Certainly all you said is true and well-thought out. However, one might mention Dante's inspiration and strength, which was of course the love for a woman. I'm not sure when it starts to come through that the love is reciprocal, but it is Beatrice who saves him when he was fallen so deeply into despair there seems to be only one path for him (explaining why the seventh city - the trees of suicide - is so much better developed than the others). That love between them is, to borrow from Dan Brown, the God particle because God is love even in a time and place when the conception of heaven and hell is a three-dimensional place palpable and discoverable to humans.
Yes yes yes! This also! This could really be a video by itself!
Funny, Gretchen is the only hope for Faust, too. A cool theme in literature; women being a reminder of the Divine for men. Thank you.
@@martasoltys9091 tbh, I had forgot her name but now you point it out of course you're right. Perhaps in our rush to discard absolutely everything we were taught as children we've also forgotten that without a relationship of some kind men tend to flounder, I'm tempted to say like some swollen pieces of flotsam and jetsam.
I cannot think about Beatrice without thinking that she was only, what?, 13 or so when Dante became infatuated with her. Lolita much. Makes one rethink the divine, or at least places this concept in a different light.
@@kurtfox4944 Maybe - of course if you believe in the pre-existence of a soul the bond by G-d between two souls has little to do with how many times the earth twirls around the sun. However, I agree that human mutuality requires a maturity that appears only after the development of autonomy. Then again too there are the existential considerations such as life expectancy during plague years and the necessity for perpetuation of the species. So, to pick up on your point: When in Nabokov's novel did Humpert Humpert first go too far? I'd guess most people would agree it was when he claimed to have "safely solopsized" her.
I think Dante's "Inferno" was the hardest book I've read that I actually managed to finish. There were others that were more challenging that made me tap out midway through ("Finnegan's Wake", "Gravity's Rainbow", "Barefoot in The Head", "The Exegesis of Philip K Dick"), but I read the John Ciardi translation with extensive footnotes, so his guidance helped me make it through to the end. It was definitely challenging reading a book where I spent more time reading the footnotes than the actually text. Still, as I patiently read on, I became astounded with the depth of knowledge of both Dante and Ciardi. There's so much in this book, from Christian doctrine, Catholic Church history, Greco-Roman mythology, world history, Italian history, and Dante's personal life interwoven within the story. I also found it fascinating how Ciardi managed to translate Italian to English and still make the verses rhyme.
I found it interesting how Dante showed sympathy for the damned souls in the Inferno. As he was a devout Catholic living in the time when people thought eternal punishment was fair retribution for sin, his sympathy for those suffering God's wrath seems to subtly hint that he may have secretly thought the doctrine of eternal damnation as a bit extreme. Also, with so many references to pre-Christian mythology and intellectual figures, he may have been subtly hinting at his secret reservation towards the absolutism of Church doctrine. At the time he wrote the inferno, these ideas would have been considered heresy, so he had to be careful at how they were presented.
Thank you for another great review. You do very thoughtful commentary without pretense and with personality.
This is a difficult one but worth the effort!
Really great point about how Dante still had sympathy for those who were damned, especially during his time period!
There's a two part series on PBS: Dante: Inferno to Paradise. I think you would enjoy it.
Good to know! Thank you!
"Eminem ain't got nothing on Dante."
Dante the rapper is donTay !
DonTay!! NEW SPELLING!!! 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼
I love the chicken-butt glass. I wish I had a whole set of barnyard animals myself.
LOL!! I wonder if it was part of a larger set. Would love to see a donkey ….🤣🤣
Dear Alana, i have just discovered your channel and i find you to be in a league of your own as far as book reviews go. Your combination of " boots on the ground" reading approach combined with your sarcasm and other attracting elements of your personality is , in my humble opinion, something really worth watching. First of all, let me congratulate you on taking on such a task of the size and difficulty of reviewing Dante, something that would normally scare the daylight out of many fine academics. I happen to have spent considerable time in Italy , due to a number of connections and as such i am a fan of Dante, not just for waht he wrote but also of his actual persona ( i am lucky to be able to use an italian edition of 1816 in Milan of the Divine Comedy, i wish i could share it with you somehow). Dante is not only quintessentially Italian, he is also quintessentially Florentine and it is really worth paying some attention on the events of his actual life ( his exile and death away from his beloved Florence) . In any case, once again congrats, you are quite a breath of fresh air . Sorry for rambling , i am just excited. I would also remommend that you read Petrarch and Bocaccio , the other two great Florentines, to see the difference in the narrative with regards to the representation of the female character. Once again, kudos and you got yourself a devoted fan. All the best from Athens, Greece.
This is so nice - thank you so much! I really appreciate your kind words. Dante was definitely a challenge for me, but I enjoyed and and I’m looking forward to continuing the Divine Comedy. And thank you for your recommendations!
love this style of vid. plzzz do more vids like this for other classics.
More classics on the way this year!
Yes, that does depict accurately gift-giving rites between siblings.
😂😂😂 true
"Dominus regit me" -- Thanks for the reminder. I've been dealing with a lot of inner resistance; pride as you may call it, that I know better, which I don't. Not ever. Great review. Really, really great review. I had to read this for my lit degree. Reading Inferno was hell, even though Dante Alighieri did a lot for the Italian language, which was mostly different dialects in various places. Still, I'll never forget those bugs crawling inside people's eyes. You did much better with it than I did. Thank you for the analysis. Much appreciated.
Thank you! haha oh yea, some of the punishments were... gruesome lol.
Dante essentially invented modern fiction. The first to create a precisely described world and populate it with characters who are more than just archetypes or personifications of various vices or virtues. But Dante put Greek heroes in Hell because he associated them with the siege of Troy. He saw the Romans/Italians as descendants of the Trojans.
This is my reminder to reread The Iliad haha.
@@alanaestelle2076 The Romans retrofitted themselves into Greek mythology! Virgil did the job nicely!
I hope you also read Purgatorio and Paradiso! That way one experiences the full scope of Dante's vision. Too many people stop at Inferno. :)
I definitely plan to! 🙌🏼
You did a fabulous job! Kuddos for creating your own lane here on Booktube👏🏽
I have not read any of Dante’s work and it seems like I should. I’m intrigued with the amount religious themes used…the ability to throw folks in hell is a doozy of a notion😅
Thank you!! LOL right - this text is wild! It's worth the effort because Danta is savage for this HAHAHA
I had been wanting to read The Divine Comedy for I don't know how long and when I found out that Baylor Honors College had a "100 Days of Dante" readalong, I got on board. I knew I would need some guidance _onaccounta_ I'm not the brightest crayon in the box! 😂 So, in 2022 I followed their schedule and read one canto each Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then watched a video of various professors break that canto down. Amazing! Anyway, I had no idea I would end up loving it as much as I do and knew it would be a reread, many times over. Maybe I'll do it sooner rather than later - thanks for the nudge. 🤓 As always, fantastic review!
That's such a great way to read this! and thank you!
Also, Alana, I think for your millennial fiction project you might want to read a book called “here is the beehive” by Sarah Crossan. It’s very short and bleak and and there’s lots of things to analyse there I think you might like it
I've lowkey abandoned that project - I'm just reading on a whim now LOL
@@alanaestelle2076 AHAHAHA tbh as you should queen 😌📚
@@Amy-tg7tu LOOOOOL! 🤣🙌🏼life has been lifing so I’m just rolling with it 🤣
@@alanaestelle2076 as you shouldddd and I mean it because some youtubers lose their authenticity over time by pressuring themselves to adjust their personal taste for the sake of views and then the viewers can obviously sense when they get lawst in the sawce but yours is so genuine and cosy I love it keep it up🩷🩷
If it were me, I would like it. 😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣
❤
❤️❤️❤️
Paradiso is awesome!
Good to know!!
Another D-Money member 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I know I may sound like a total Philistine for saying this but I'mma say it anyway. I just didn't find Inferno all that great. Maybe the poetry is amazing in the original Italian but I didn't find it very remarkable in English. I also found it really repetitive and boring and not terribly profound. And plus the moralizing I found offputting. Virgil constantly be like, "I know this seems brutal, but trust me, they had it coming!" Like yeah bruh I'm sure those babies you passed a while back sure had it coming. Will I read Purgatorio and Paradiso? Prolly not. Still, I liked hearing your thoughts on Inferno. :)
Although much of what you say is true, apparently the poem is a very highly structured love poem, some of which can be translated across different languages and some lost. The main idea: "I would go to hell for you" comes through and is well-developed but the music of it we can only imagine. As for the imagery, a slowly moving and sharply defined nightmare, certainly Dante accomplished it as well as anyone else before or since. But the rhythm, is that on the translator maybe, I think so. In short, I agree with you that standing alone as a lyrical poem there is room for criticism but generally it is a success in its conception and execution.
I love unpopular opinions on the greats 😂🙌🏼.
Dante isn't celebrating the fate of the condemned. He accepts as it as part of the System that he has no control over. Also, it seems you were looking for "lyricism" and that's not Dante's bag - what he provides is precision - the entire poem is structured in a way that's insanely intricate and layered. You can find all sorts of connections between events in the three Canticles. He also pretty much invented modern fiction.
@TH3F4LCONx
I think back to the days when every checkout counter in the supermarket had celebrity rags, like The Enquirer. Media seems to revel (almost plan) to set up a star, only to capitalize on their downfall. Humans, it seems like to worship celebrities and stars, and REALLY love it when they have a come-uppance. These rags sold like hotcakes, week after week. Celebs caught cheating, dating someone new, getting plastic surgery, getting fat. Pretty much the same story every week...yep repetitive.
What did they have in 1300s Roman Catholic Italy, pre-Renaissance, pre-Medici. Even pre-Martin Luther and Reformation. A time when there was no TV or radio, no NFL or NBA, no heroes except the suite of Christian saints and where everyone gushes for the Sunday live entertainment of church with its damnation and hellfire sermons. Instead of your favorite Marvel comic superhero fighting the villain-of-the-week, it was a Dante and Virgil visit this level of hell, and another historic celebrity getting roasted (sometimes literally). If you find that repetitive, all I have to say to counter is Spiderman Issue 700 or Batman issue 666 anyone? Superbowl #56 where two of 32 teams will compete, after playing 16 regular season games. Or Nascar and the Daytona 500 - driving 5oo miles in an oval doing nothing but left-hand turns. Using a club to whack a little white ball into a tiny cup in a grassy lawn (or worse yet, watching someone else do that).
I'm not judging, nor necessarily disagreeing with anyone... to each their own. At the time and place, it made sense. It was extremely influential (and still is today). I am currently reading Ovid. The concept of Hell and its punishments certainly has changed since Dante... from pushing a boulder up a hill, holding up the earth upon your shoulders, collecting water in a sieve, being strapped to a rock and having your liver plucked out Daily. ... Today, most of our visions of Hell stem from Dante... even manga in Japan.
As for the moralizing, well, it is a Christian book about heaven and hell, what did you expect? For the illiterati of the past, some things had to be spelled out pretty clearly for them. I tend to think one should become moral before becoming spiritual.
This is not to say that, using today's standards, the book is boring, repetitive and not terribly profound, only that there are many ways to judge a book as being 'great' or not. I think it is a disservice to judge a book 700 years ago, 170 years ago (thinking Uncle Tom's Cabin) or even 50 years ago using today's social, moral and even literary standards. Sometimes it is important to read a book for own's self, to understand its place in history. Reading the original may not seem "terribly profound" today. Given how much we are now immersed in the culture that has been influenced by this book, we almost cannot see how truly impactful it was (and still is). But at the time it was written, well...
Many thanks!
I should move Dante up on my reading list. 😃
I like your rap appreciation.
Maybe one day a Chris Turner or Harry Mack turns up to do just such book reviews 🎤 🔊🎛️
KD[once]Books brought me here.
LOOOOOL! I don’t know if the world is ready for more rap renditions from me 🤣🤣