also from Darwin Catholic, the first of a series of blog posts of Lenten meditations on the Divine Comedy.
Though I read and enjoyed the Divina Commedia when I was in college, I’d never have thought of it as spiritual reading. I’ll second Darwin’s comment that it’s the sort of book you really need to read in the context of a class or with good notes, or both.
Sadly, I think my digging deeper into the Commedia was hampered by my teacher. I took his class because he was recognized as a great Dante scholar. Unfortunately not all great scholars are great teachers. Or maybe it was that he didn’t feel that a freshman lit class could follow him if he delved into the depths. I felt like we spent weeks splashing in the shallows. He often stopped to chuckle to himself, as if there were a great joke that he wasn’t going to bother sharing because it would go over our heads. Resentful much? You bet. I felt cheated out of a real acquaintance with this great treasure.
One of these days I’ll go back and re-read it.
I may have to go out and buy the hardbacks (or keep my eyes open for the older editions at Hlaf-Price Books). I love the Garth Williams illustrations, and I can’t imagine Little House without them (any more than I can imagine Charlotte’s Web without them—impossible!).