Dante and the eternal battle with The Boy

[swimmermom3]

Yes, this is another chapter in the ongoing saga of The Non-Reader in a House Full of Books.

 

Every year, I carefully pick a wonderful list of reading material for my youngest including classics and Newberry-award winners. It is a list my oldest have either read or would love to read as I add new finds. Each year, The Boy finds little joy and the books he does love always surprise the heck out of me. So this year, I just put everything I had for the time period on shelves in his bedroom and said "Read." Oh please, just read anything. He had not read one book all summer until his sister handed him The Hunger games the night before school started. He read the whole thing. This is the kid who loved Daniel Boorstin in 4th grade and insisted on reading Macbeth in its entirety last year in the Oxford Scholar series.

 

A couple of days ago, he asked that I read to him at breakfast. He asked for Dante and The Inferno. I have the Pinksy volume, but had been flipping through selected Cantos and their notes in an anthology I had just received. We had discussed Dante and I had opted not to read anything to him since I figured it was pointless. I forget that sometimes that is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I spent 2 hours reading the selected cantos and engaging in a brief discussion with the elders, who had stopped everything to listen.

 

So now, youngest and oldest want to hear the entire Divine Comedy. Honestly, I think The Boy will lose interest after The Inferno, but obviously, I am frequently wrong when it comes to his literary tastes.

 

Quick! What do I do? He wants to start today. I have only the most basic of information about the poem on hand and it has been 30 years since I have studied it, even though I read Pinsky's translation recently. Also, after reading the excerpts from Ciardi, Pinsky feels a bit soulless or stark. Am I way off base? My son commented on the descriptive language in the cantos we read from Ciardi, a translator that I know nothing about.

 

I suspect I may be making the usual mountain out of a molehill, but I would like to have a semi-intelligent conversation about the poem if I am going to do all that reading.

 

You don't think he is just trying to get of "regular" school, do you?

[Mommyfaithe]

Must be the chlorine! :D. Ds absolutely loved Dante..and reads it often:001_huh:...but then again, he was thrilled to receive an antique copy of Lord Byron...and holed up in his room for hour to read it...hahah

 

Eta: I say just read, discuss and enjoy. It may be your fuzziest homeschool memory yet.

[swimmermom3]

Must be the chlorine! :D. Ds absolutely loved Dante..and reads it often:001_huh:...but then again, he was thrilled to receive an antique copy of Lord Byron...and holed up in his room for hour to read it...hahah

 

Eta: I say just read, discuss and enjoy. It may be your fuzziest homeschool memory yet.

 

No kidding about the chlorine! I think Swimmer Dude's brain must be permanently warped, but hey, at least his hair is no longer ash gray and it does stay down.:D

 

Which Dante does your son like? You are probably right about reading, discussing, and enjoying. I am still in that habit of making everything too hard for myself. I am the woman who jumps in the river and thinks that the only direction is upstream. You know, swim like heck, and nearly drown.:tongue_smilie:

[Tullia]

Yes, this is another chapter in the ongoing saga of The Non-Reader in a House Full of Books.

 

Every year, I carefully pick a wonderful list of reading material for my youngest including classics and Newberry-award winners. It is a list my oldest have either read or would love to read as I add new finds. Each year, The Boy finds little joy and the books he does love always surprise the heck out of me. So this year, I just put everything I had for the time period on shelves in his bedroom and said "Read." Oh please, just read anything. He had not read one book all summer until his sister handed him The Hunger games the night before school started. He read the whole thing. This is the kid who loved Daniel Boorstin in 4th grade and insisted on reading Macbeth in its entirety last year in the Oxford Scholar series.

 

A couple of days ago, he asked that I read to him at breakfast. He asked for Dante and The Inferno. I have the Pinksy volume, but had been flipping through selected Cantos and their notes in an anthology I had just received. We had discussed Dante and I had opted not to read anything to him since I figured it was pointless. I forget that sometimes that is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I spent 2 hours reading the selected cantos and engaging in a brief discussion with the elders, who had stopped everything to listen.

 

So now, youngest and oldest want to hear the entire Divine Comedy. Honestly, I think The Boy will lose interest after The Inferno, but obviously, I am frequently wrong when it comes to his literary tastes.

 

Quick! What do I do? He wants to start today. I have only the most basic of information about the poem on hand and it has been 30 years since I have studied it, even though I read Pinsky's translation recently. Also, after reading the excerpts from Ciardi, Pinsky feels a bit soulless or stark. Am I way off base? My son commented on the descriptive language in the cantos we read from Ciardi, a translator that I know nothing about.

 

I suspect I may be making the usual mountain out of a molehill, but I would like to have a semi-intelligent conversation about the poem if I am going to do all that reading.

 

You don't think he is just trying to get of "regular" school, do you?

 

Well, he might be trying to do just that :D, but either way there are so many points at which you can tie into other things you've read and discussed that there's no way you'd be wasting your time. I really like the opening sentence of Dorothy Sayers' intro. "The ideal way of reading The Divine Comedy would be to start at the first line and go straight through to the end, surrendering to the vigour of the story-telling and the swift movement of the verse, and not bothering about any historical allusions or theological explanations which do not occur in the text itself." Of course she goes on to explain quite a bit of background as well as a few of her translation decisions in her introduction.

 

If he's hooked on the story there is an excellent chance a deeper appreciation will follow more or less naturally --perhaps helped along by some light-handed guidance from you and incidental comments from siblings if they join in. Even if you go only for the story this time through he'll be well-served if/when he encounters it again later on.

 

I warn you though, two similar rabbit trails meant my son graduated high school with a shocking ignorance of 20th century lit. I handed him a textbook over the summer between high school and college and implored him to read it so that he'd not make both of us look bad in his first college lit course. ;)

[Janice H]

I know that's what WTM recommended it, but things went a lot better for me with Ciardi or Musa. Since we're not in grad school, I say the translator you or DC will read is the best translator. See if your library has an edition with the wonderful Dore prints that go w/Inferno. Even if your boy doesn't make it through Purgatorio, he could skim parts of it and see how different it feels and reads; I was surprised by the change.

[Jane in NC]

Teaching Company to the rescue?

 

Jane (whose own dear Boy adored Inferno)

[swimmermom3]

Martha, Janice, and Jane,

 

You are all so helpful. Pinsky is going away as our library has a copy by Ciardi with the Dore illustrations. If ds noticed the descriptive language in Ciardi, I am sure he would be disappointed with Pinsky. Jane, I have the History of Literature series with Grant Voth, so TC lecture 16 it will be.

 

Obviously I will jump through hoops to get this boy to read. Thank you all so much for helping me to make the sure hoops are worthwhile ones.:D

Edited September 17, 2011 by swimmermom3

[Jane in NC]

Here is the series that we used. Maybe your library has it?

[swimmermom3]

Here is the series that we used. Maybe your library has it?

 

I'll check our library. Wow! I'm not sure even Vandiver's courses are rated that highly. Thank you for the suggestion.

[8filltheheart]

My dd fell in love with Dante in 10th grade. I had only planned on her reading Inferno followed by selections from Purgutory and Paradise. She, however, insisted on reading everything. I will say that she was disappointed in Paradise and only read it fully out of determination, not the same intense interest she had for Inferno. So....only time will tell w/your ds. :) (and I don't want to contemplate what all of that really means!! ;) )

[mcconnellboys]

Maybe it is the chlorine - my swimmer begged for it, too (but then so did the soccer guy)....