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Finally mustered the energy to give a proper read through of the Commedia, *stelle* to *stelle*. Am currently at Purgatorio 24. Reading the Hollander translation (freely available online), along with splashes of their commentary, all while listening to the Italian audio (available on Spotify). Now, I can gush all on my lonesome, but that feels dumb. Hopefully y'all can turn this into a proper discussion xD
Sorta stalled at 24, btw, not because of any special difficulty, but because one of the shades Dante meets literally mentions "Donne ch'avete intelletto d'amore", one of the first Dante poems I read in full, and I absolutely adore that poem. Needless to say, I've wasted my time reading it over and over. xDt
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I'm in love with this poem. It is sublime.
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Commedia or Donne ch'avete?
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Donna ch'avete
My Italian is quite basic, but it sounds divine.
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It is, I can't help but be obsessed. In Purgatorio the shade of the poet he talks to marks it out among "The New Sweet Style".
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For the folks like me who would otherwise have to hunt this down:
Donne ch’avete intelletto d'amore,
i’ vo’ con voi de la mia donna dire,
non perch’io creda sua laude finire,
ma ragionar per isfogar la mente.
Io dico che pensando il suo valore,
Amor sì dolce mi si fa sentire,
che s’io allora non perdessi ardire,
farei parlando innamorar la gente.
(Ladies who have understanding of love, I will speak with you of my lady, not that I believe I may exhaust her praises, but in order to relieve my mind. I say that as I think of her worth, Love speaks to me so sweetly, that if I did not lose courage, I should make everyone fall in love by my words. Translation from Auerbach, 1929/2007, p. 47.)
Borrowed from: https://www.onfiction.ca/2008/09/dantes-...nuova.html
I have fond memories of reading the Ciardi translation many many years ago, in stolen moments from my boring job, and I think I got as far as Paradise, but faltered there.
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Btw that's not the entire thing, I'll probably share it in PotD as soon as I can.
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The problem with poetry is that it is murdered in translation
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I'm pretty sure I read the mark musa translation of the comedy, he argued that even though Italian is a pretty language, the authors intent was lost by Longfellow translations because he meant it to be brash and blunt.
I couldn't read Longfellow's translation.
Peanut butter honey banana sandwiches
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(03-18-2022, 12:46 AM)RiverNotch Wrote: Btw that's not the entire thing, I'll probably share it in PotD as soon as I can.
Oops! Should of read what I was linking to more closely.
I did find a complete translation here, if anyone wants to read it. Unfortunately, it doesn't include the Italian original. It's a translation of the entire Vita Nuova. The canzone is in (section? page?) 10:
https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/text/l...-frisardi/
