The Divine Comedy for children?

''Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.''

Dante, The Divine Comedy

I found out of total chance this image on Facebook, apparently of an adaptation for children (and I think in Spanish) of Dante's epic poem. Okay so seriously, tell me, does this book cover fit well the above verses, which, translated into English, mean: "Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost." I mean really? Is this a joke? I have been obsessing about it since I saw it in my timeline. I have a confession to make: I don't like Dante much. His masterpiece is for me a disgusting display of devout Catholic propaganda, plagued with antisemitism. But one should at least respect his importance and not turn his work into... Well, into this. Because this is worse than my worst nightmares. A pastel Hell? If it looks like this, I am really afraid of ending up in it.

"Dante m'a toujours emmerdé"

Cette citation est attribuée à Lope de Vega, apparemment prononcée sur en confession son lit de mort. Je la tiens de Vous n'aurez pas le dernier mot!, une anthologie donnée des plus belles réplique, que mon père, grand admirateur de Jean Piat, m'a donnée en cadeau pour mes trente ans. Il y a bien d'autres savoureuses, mais celle-ci je crois me rejoint le plus. Parce que c'est pas mal mon sentiment sur Dante, un intégriste antisémite assez imbuvable. Alors ça me fait plaisir de savoir que je ne suis pas le seul à le trouver emmerdant.

The Italian Connection

Oh how I wish I could be in Manchester sometimes! It would be a nice time for a pilgrimage there. Anyway, the Anthony Burgess Foundation and the Societa Dante Alighieri are exploring these days the connection between my favourite writer (Burgess, not Dante) and Italy. They will, among other things, talk about his friendship with Sophia Loren, who inspired the character of Beatrice Joanna in The Wanting Seed and also one hagiographic article in Homage to Qwert Yuiop. Burgess also lived in Italy for an extensive part of his adult life and  of course married an Italian, Liana, his second wife. And also, incidentally, someone I met personally. So Anthony Burgess had a very special relationship with Italy and Italian culture.

A relationship which in my own life, especially my youth (well, in my twenties), I semi-voluntarily tried to emulate. I made many Italian friends and acquaintances at university and later and tried to learn the language. I am still struggling with the latter, but thankfully I still have Italian friends, with whom I created strong bonds. I cannot visit Italy any time soon and beside I want to know the language more, enough to get by. Until then, a pilgrimage in Manchester at the ABF would calm my longing for Italy.

Midway upon the journey of our life...

''Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ché la diritta via era smarrita.''

Dante, The Divine Comedy

Well, of course it is The Divine Comedy. The first three lines. Translated it means: “Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.” I read it all during my university years, in English, from Inferno to Paradisio. One of my Italian friends teased me saying that one cannot appreciate Dante if one does not read him in Italian, and thus that I should read it in the original language, my poor knowledge of Italian at the time be darned. My Italian now is still not up to scratch for Dante. A darn shame. I quoted Dante because I am still 35, midway in a man's life's journey, and because it is my birthday soon. And I thought this blog needed a bit of literary depth and meaning.