cementino said:
Formica Archonis said:
It's not. Us English-speakers have Shakespeare instead. More's the pity, I think. I much preferred The Divine Comedy. Except for parts of Paradiso, though. Man, that was a slog.
It was indeed. The Inferno is actually funny at times, and Purgatorio at least has some interesting political content.
Yep. Paradiso at least had the amusing nature of the Ptolemaic system, but it doesn't have the punch of the other two canticles. (I don't even recall as much sharp criticism of the Church after the allegorical parade in the Earthly Paradise.) Some of the characters were interesting, but it really comes down to the idea that punishment and redemption are far more interesting than meeting the redeemed and perfect. Stories only stay short times with the heroes relaxing in paradise (either at the start or at the end) for a reason.
I gather Milton's
Paradise Regained - never read it - has the same problem. Asimov once said it was because dystopia and utopia are only entertaining if tainted. A pure dystopia or utopia is one-note. Dante, Virgil, and some of the more sympathetic sinners serve to 'taint' Dante's Hell, as Lucifer taints Milton's. But each author had to depict a Heaven with a perfect and unchanging God, where evil was a literal impossibility. Kinda boring.
As much as I hate to say it the Comedy really takes a hit with the introduction of Beatrice. Not only do we leave Virgil behind so soon after his beautiful scene in front of the wall of fire, but Beatrice's almost hostile introduction doesn't help her case much. I understand its logic in the greater context of the story, but first impressions are a big thing and it's kind of hard to align Dante and Virgil's praise of her up to this point with the real thing.
cementino said:
Anyway, thanks for the answer.
No worries. Just keep in mind I'm merely one Canadian. Big world out there.
cementino said:
Mine was not a complaint on the content of the game, I mean, we could spend aeons on the same topic about Troy and similar movies (like Clash of the Titans, which I haven't seen yet but based on the trailers it seems the mythos isn't really the focus) really I was just curious.
One could say the same about the Pearl Harbor movie, or countless other things. Nicholas Gurewitch said (drew?) it best. [http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF209-Now_Showing.jpg]
cementino said:
My condolences for the Shakespeare issue
Didn't kill me. And besides, gave me some good ammo for watching Jeopardy!
Though one wonders if one merely dislikes something because one was forced to read it in school! After all, the books we read as we please and don't write reports over have to be more entertaining than schoolbooks. Easiest exam I ever wrote was about a poem we weren't supposed to have seen before. By coincidence, I'd already read it, liked it, and thought of it quite a bit. Not hard to write pages and pages about something you liked!
