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Should I read these epics?

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GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#1: May 27th 2013 at 2:20:03 PM

I am thinking about reading the epics of Dante, Kafka and Milton but I have some reservations. I don't any thing about these poems except from I gather from the wiki and this very site, I want to read the poems but I am not too sure about them. What should I know about them? Should I read these epics?

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#2: May 27th 2013 at 5:29:14 PM

You certainly shouldn't read all of them at once,your brain will explode.

Dante's Inferno is worth reading, the other two parts of The Divine Comedy not so much. Paradise Lost I've only read fragments of but liked what i read. I didn't even know Kafka wrote an epic.

edited 27th May '13 5:31:55 PM by tricksterson

Trump delenda est
GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#3: May 27th 2013 at 9:03:08 PM

To be honest, I don't think Kafka wrote an epic but I still am interested in his poems anyways.

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
Lightningnettle Nettle Since: Apr, 2012 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Nettle
#4: May 28th 2013 at 7:27:44 AM

What you should do is go to the Gutenberg Project and read a few pages of each to see how you like them.

The Inferno has a lot of current references that most people don't know today, I certainly don't. It's worth finding a good annotated version if you like it at all, so that you'll understand why certain punishments fit the sins committed. There are multiple translations of the Inferno, and I don't know which is best, but you can probably find opinions on the Internet, maybe even some reasonable ones if you work at it.

You don't need to worry about translations for Paradise Lost of course. I haven't read more than bits and pieces of it, but my impression is that it doesn't refer to events and persons of it's time, so you probably don't need too much background as long as you have some idea of the Christian mythos.

edited 28th May '13 7:34:12 AM by Lightningnettle

Madrugada Since: Jan, 2001
#5: May 28th 2013 at 7:40:37 AM

The John Ciardi translation of Dante is the best one I've found. It has notes and annotations at the end of each canto to help you get the references, and in some cases, he explains why he translated something the way he did.

edited 28th May '13 7:41:16 AM by Madrugada

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#6: May 28th 2013 at 11:25:48 AM

Those sound good, I will look for the translations.

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#7: May 28th 2013 at 2:27:43 PM

Inferno is just about the only thing worth reading. Pergatory is rather depressing and Paradiso is rather dull.

GAP Formerly G.G. from Who Knows? Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: In love with love
Formerly G.G.
#8: May 28th 2013 at 2:57:39 PM

Can Spark Notes and Cliff Notes help with the reading?

"Fan, a Mega Man character."
darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#9: May 28th 2013 at 4:53:49 PM

Yeah, you should be fine wit those. Paradise can get rather verbose and convoluted.

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