Dante's Inferno

[Skull Kid]

Has anyone heard of this book? I heard it's a really interesting book that talks about a person's experience through the 9 layers of Hell. It's 33 chapters and actually part of a 99 chapter book (I forget the name). The author wrote the whole book on Easter weekend (3 days). He did 33 chapters each day. O_o

Anyway, I want to get this book and check it out and I want to see if anyone else has read it and enjoyed it.

[Blaksmoke]

Levels of Hell, LEVELS. Not layers.

n00b.

Yes, I read it. Freaky.

[Dorbin]

I've heard of it, know of it, but have not read it, but due to pimp university resources I have the full text loaded on my computer.

The larger work of which you speak is called The Divine Comedy, and contains Dante's Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise, in that order.

[peasantlover]

Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradisio (it was written in Italian obviously). I had to read all 3 in college (along with Miltons Paradise Lost). My High School English teacher had us read the inferno, as they do in a lot of high schools... I really feel this is a disservice, though. You should not read the Inferno unless you plan on reading all 3 books. The inferno is about hell, so (of course), a lot of people come out of it with a dark and disturbed view of human nature, or at least assume that is what Dante meant. But the work is called "Divine comedy" for a reason, mainly a "comedy" in ancient and medieval times was a work that had a happy ending. And if you read the purgatorio and paradisio - you will get a much more positive and uplifting look.

[goku2057]

Interestingly enough, we just read this in Humanities.

Quite good.

[Skull Kid]

Divine Comedy, yes that's what it was.

Well if I'm most likely going to read it in college, maybe I should wait to read it?

[peasantlover]

No way. There's no guarantee you will read it in college.. my school was very liberal arts focused (they required 4 credits of English, 4 of history, 4 of philosophy.. even 2 theology).. and unless you go to a liberal arts school also you probably wont focus on it. Even if you do end up reading in college, it can only help you to be familiar with it.. its a great book, anyway.

Just make sure if you do read the inferno you read the other 2 also :)

[Cofey]

This is actually one of the top books on my list to read after school is out (I can't read anything during the semester, too much work to get done). I've heard from a lot of people how great it is though.

[Lord Worm]

We don't take English in engineering, we take "Technical Communications". In other words, you have to know how to properly convey your need for a new heat-exhanger or a a centrifugal pump.

"Worm", you might ask, "Wouldn't you just contact a vendor and say, 'I need a new heat-exchanger'?"

That's right, you would.

[Skull Kid]

I'll probably ask for it for Christmas.

Can anyone post a picture of the cover of it for me? I looked on Google and they have a few books called "The Inferno" and I don't know which one is the correct one.

[Dorbin]

^ If it's by Dante, you're set, although I'm not sure if there are translations that are more desirable than others.

EDIT: Dante Alighieri, actually, although that hardly matters. You'll get the right book, but things just vary slightly by translator. Here is the Barnes and Noble page for you: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=Inferno&userid=t82jCqNAm9&cds2Pid=946

However, you may just want to look into The Divine Comedy as a whole, which includes: "Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise." Here's a link: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=The+Divine+Comedy&userid=t82jCqNAm9

[peasantlover]

SK, get the Dorothy sayers translation (last one on Dorbins second link)...

[Nate]

Yeah I read it in English 7-8. we had to do a project for it, but what was cool is that we could do anything we want. I made a render of Cocytus with blood staining the ice and shit. It was pretty sweet, but I deleted it :(.

[Skull Kid]

I was lucky enough to have my English teacher have a box full of them (John Ciardi translation). Since it's for one of her classes, I can't take them out of class, but she said I can read it during class.

[peasantlover]

Cool.