Influences on the Divine Comedy 📯 Divine Comedy read-along 📯

Dante worked on the Comedy for 15 years (1306–1320). It is influenced by travel literature (frequently to the afterlife) and vision literature (it was very popular in the Middle Ages, these stories describe a supernatural experience where an individual receives a revelation or sees a hidden reality, like Heaven or Hell, while in a trance or dream). It is also influenced by prophetic apocalyptic literature, as well as the works of Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and Cicero.

References that appeared at the bottom of that page in my Divine Comedy edition:

🔸Travel Literature: • Les récits de voyages et de pèlerinages by J. Richard. • Libros españoles de viajes medievales by J. Rubio Tovar. • The Aeneid by Virgil. • Anticlaudianus by Alain de Lille.

🔸Vision Literature: • Mittelalterliche Visionsliteratur (Medieval Vision Literature) by P. Dinzelbacher. • Somnium Scipionis (The Dream of Scipio) by Cicero, with commentary by Macrobius.

Furthermore, the Comedy is built upon the philosophical and scientific doctrines of the Middle Ages: through numbers, it attempts to express the Universe, turning the Divine Comedy into a microcosmos. The number 3 holds great prominence in this era (past, present, future; the Holy Trinity; the triangle...). Pure medieval numerology.

Thus, the Comedy is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Inferno is subdivided into nine circles, Purgatorio into nine parts, and Paradiso into nine heavens. The damned are grouped into three series, and those purging their sins also form three groups. The stanza used is the terza rima in hendecasyllabic verse—that is, a stanza of three lines of eleven syllables each, meaning every stanza consists of 33 syllables.

I got this info on the prologue of the book, and honestly, it blew my mind. Tell me what you think about this: numerology, literary influences...

I love modern ebooks/kindles/readers, but I already have one at home. Is an oldie, you can only put epubs on there conecting it to the pc (yes, no wifi, no mail, no nothing), and this fucker doesnt even show the covers HAHAHAAH just a weird list of the titles (to save energy, and it lasts a very long time). So yeah, is not the most aesthetic thing. But tbh I don't really feel like buying a new one. I don't read that much on digital and some of the "updates" of the new ebooks are just like: oh, the cover is in color! So I just feel like it's a huge capitalism engine to make us buy even more devices. Ofc you can buy a new one, but if you already have three? Idk man.

This might just be me and my algorithms, but I've been seeing a lot of people (not just here!) DNFing or complaining in their reviews about "info dumping", specifically in fantasy books.

For those that aren't familiar: "Info dumping is when the author gives out excessive information to the reader all at once, leaving the story stagnant." This often leaves the readers bored, especially if the author goes off on a tangent and it's not relevant to what's happening right now.

I feel like I've noticed a trend (again this could just be me lol) where people are throwing the term around when they aren't entertained at all times. The author's job is to try and explain their fantasy world so that you can understand the story! Often that doesn't include action scenes, but lots of explaining (done in different ways). Maybe it's the MC explaining a situation to someone or some extra descriptions added to each chapter. Whatever it may be, those parts are important! I, as a reader, want to know about the world I was just thrown into. Tell me more even!

It could be the result of reading so many trendy romantasy books, where something is happening all the time, or maybe it's just people who are new to fantasy. Or something else entirely!

I'm curious to know what you guys are seeing! Are you noticing authors actually info dumping more or are people just not used to fantasy worlds? Or are we still just throwing terminology around without understanding it?

Now I see why they call this a self insert fanfic lol. Dante going through the stages/circles of hell and namedropping famous historical people is giving marvel end credits scenes.

Here goes nothing! I am reading this to understand where the traditional concept of hell comes from.

Here goes nothing! I'm going to try to do this readalong in such a way where I read at least one canto every day (which means this should last just over three months). I am also planning on following each canto with the Sparks Notes, because although I read this canto out loud to myself, I was really worried I missed important information.

Dante, lost in some woods, meets Virgil after being forced back by three beasts from climbing a hill, and Virgil basically says he'll set him on the path, but he has to go through Hell and Purgatory before reaching Heaven.

At this point, I wonder if we'll ever know how Dante got into this position. Are we supposing Dante is the same as the author? Are we supposing this Dante has died, and if so, will the how of it be revealed? Am I going to understand why this is called The Divine Comedy by the end?

I guess, if I stick with this daily reading, I'll find out (or find out that the answers I seek aren't there).

☞✹ About this invitation📯:

The idea for this buddy read came from my desire to finally start this classic that has been eyeing me from my shelf for a long time 👁️‍🗨️. The first edition that i bought was second-hand, but suspiciously short. Finally, a few days ago, I was gifted the exact edition I wanted! (after an exhaustive search for the bests spanish editions).

The length of the book ranges from 500 to 1,000 pages depending on the edition. This is a book about which rivers of ink have been spilled: essays, theories, commentaries... as well as its massive influence on pop culture, religion, and today's literary landscape. So why not giving it a try?

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☞☻ About the read-along 👥:

🔸Each person will read it at their own pace. 🔸The interactions will be totally organic. 🔸If you aren't vibing with it you can mark it as DNF, don't worry! 🔸You can just update your %/pages read, post your theories...the format you like best 🔸You can keep it as individual or as group-based as you like. If there's one part you want to discuss a lot and another you prefer to read on your own, that's perfectly valid 🫡. 🔸You can join the read-along whenever you prefer. Save this for later if you don't have the time or energy to read this book now but want to in the future.

📌 REMEMBER: The goal is to make the experience as fun and complete as possible. We’ll share thoughts, reflections, and references... and learn from one another, in a way that is as deep or as simple as you’d like. Ultimately, the aim is to help us stay more consistent with our reading and build meaningful connections with your reading buddies on Pagebound.

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☞𖦹 How? 💡

1️⃣🔸Comment in this post if you want to participate. Bonus points if you share what kind of comments you’re planning to post during this project or if you will just do % updates. Also, tell us if you enjoy debating and if you're looking for something specific with this read (like just having fun, deeply analyzing the book, etc). Obviously you can change this whenever you want; Nothing is immutable🌝🤝🏻✨.

2️⃣🔸Follow reading buddies that you feel vibe with you. Try not to overwhelm yourself. Depending on your pace, you might prefer to follow just 2 people, 3, or 10.

3️⃣🔸Interact! Take a look at their posts to see their thoughts on the chapters they've finished. Make sure you're both around the same percentage so you don't run into any spoilers. If you are just a silent observer and prefer to see other people's thoughts without debating, you can do so without any problem.

📌And the most important rule, have fun!!

📯 ᴰⁱᵛⁱⁿᵉ ᶜᵒᵐᵉᵈʸ ʳᵉᵃᵈ⁻ᵃˡᵒⁿᵍ 📯 The journey through the circles of Hell (and beyond) has just begun this weekend! ✨. If you’ve been on the fence about joining us, this is your sign to jump in. For those who missed it, we are doing a buddy read of The Divine Comedy. It’s a totally flexible project: read at your own pace, join whenever you want, and participate as much or as little as you like (you can find the full invitation post with all the details on my profile, to avoid repeating myself hahaha ).

🔸What’s happening right now: I’m currently diving into the prologue and taking notes on the historical context, Dante’s life, and the origins of the work. I’ll be posting all of this in the book forum soon—think of it as a little "appetizer" to help everyone get a better handle on the story before starting the actual cantos. 🧠✍️. I’ve already posted about my debate on which (spanish) edition is the best, and the one I’m reading right now. It’s definitely one of those classics where you have to choose wisely, haha.

Enjoy the ride and start at your own rhythm!

Curious to know what purpose you have set for your shelves. I use them as a countdown of sorts! Like I have my TBR Cart shelf and a Books I want to finish this year shelf and I love being able to remove a read from that shelf and see the number go down hahaha. And then I got wondering how other people would use theirs!!

Before I joined Pagebound my most used/favourite emojis were 😂😊 (still love 'em). I've never really interacted with people online in any capacity, I'm very much a lurker just to keep up to date with things. I only joined Instagram (and LinkedIn) when studying abroad because none of my new friends used Facebook😆

Since joining PB my emoji vocabulary has expanded so much. Now I love a 🫡, a 👀, a 🫠, and 🙂‍↕️ was honestly revolutionary. And then being stretched to explore the emojis that aren't just faces or body parts! 🎉👑✨️💯

Emojis are not only integrated into the experience here because of reviews and lists, but because PB by nature is dynamically social. I love seeing all the different ways people express themselves and convey meaning and I've learnt and become more confident effectively communicating my thoughts and feelings through text (still learning). This is one unexpected element of PB that I love and has just enhanced both the reading experience here and just socialising online.

So, how about you? Were you already emoji literate, or like me and emoji stunted? Have you noticed a change in how you communicate/interact with others since joining PB?