Ah, I *knew* where to find my Dante (within arm's reach from my desk,
along with Eliot, Woolf and the other *important* things) but was too lazy
to reach for it! I don't think I was *always* this lazy, but being a
night owl who gets up early may explain it. Boy, little did I know
just how good I had it in grad school! It's just the poverty that wasn't
all it was cracked up to be :).
Thanks for the reassurance.
Best,
Venus

On Wed, 30 Jan 2002, Nancy Gish wrote:

> Dear Venus,
>
> Sorry, it doesn't get more befuddled; it just loses track of everything. The
> value of years of reading is that at least one can still find it again if
> necessary.
> Best,
> Nancy
>
>
> Date sent: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 11:44:58 -0500 (EST)
> Send reply to: [log in to unmask]
> From: Venus Freeman <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Thoughts on "La Figlia che Piange"
>
> No source, Nancy. Just my own poor memory--I wasn't remcalling my Dante
> clearly, and didn't even take the time to go back to what Rick first said
> about it. A function of writing relatively late in a day that starts at 6
> am. I am hoping that my brain doesn't get too much more befuddled as I
> get older.:) Venus
>
> On Tue, 29 Jan 2002, Nancy Gish wrote:
>
> > I think there is a confusion here. Limbo is the first circle of Hell.
> > The second circle is the circle of the lustful, in which are Paolo and
> > Francesca. Both are in what you call "Inferno proper." The prior circle
> > is the vestibule which holds those who never chose. But Dante and
> > Virgil pass over Acheron from the vestibule of Hell into the first of
> > nine circles before both Limbo and the Circle of the lustful.
> >
> > What is the source of the claim here about a separate status of Hell
> > after the first and second circles? Nancy
> >
> >
> >
> > Date sent: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 22:38:37 -0500 (EST)
> > Send reply to: [log in to unmask]
> > From: Venus Freeman <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Thoughts on "La Figlia che Piange"
> >
> > Dear Rick,
> > sorry I took a couple of days to get back to this. I can't recall where
> > I got this notion that Paolo and Francesca never touched--I am sure that
> > one of my professors somewhere along the line passed this bit of
> > information on to me. And looking again at my Mandelbaum, I do find
> > that Francesca says that "this one, who never shall be parted from me,
> > while all his body trembled, kissed my mouth" (not bad even in a
> > translation)(lines 135-6). ANd this "never shall be parted from me" does
> > support the reading you have offered (supported by many translators).
> > However, I am a little dubious, and only partly because I don't readily
> > give up long-held convictions :). As Dante describes the torment of the
> > circle at the beginning of the Canto, he says
> >
> > I reached a place where every light is muted
> > which bellows like the sea beneath a tempest
> > when it is battered by opposing winds
> > The hellish hurricane, which never rests,
> > drives on the spirits with its violence:
> > wheeling and pounding, it harasses them.
> > When they come up against the ruined slope,
> > then there are cries and wailing and lament,
> > and there they curse the force of the divine.
> >
> > Now, while this isn't even the Inferno proper yet (but as you note, the
> > 2nd ring of Limbo), it still sounds pretty harsh to me, and clearly
> > indicates that those who dwell there do so in misery. ANd Francesca is
> > clearly depicted as miserable, so much so that Dante is "moved to tears
> > of sorrow and pity" (line 117) When asked to tell her tale, she says
> > "there is no greater sorrow / than thinking upon a happy time / in
> > misery . . ." (121-123). And she tells her tale "as one who weeps and
> > speaks" (126). Now, perhaps it's only the romantic in me, but it seems
> > to me that if one could spend eternity with the beloved, bound together,
> > even in torment, then even torment would not truly be torment, and
> > surely the misery would not be so great as that of which she speaks.
> > Granted, I can only infer, but the opposing winds of great force would
> > seem to me not to allow the binding of these two together, though she
> > does say that Paolo will never be parted from her. Maybe I got my image
> > of the two eternally blown near but never allowed to touch from the
> > first translation I read, on which I can't lay hands at the moment, and
> > admmittedly was quite a cheap translation by no one of any authority on
> > the matter. But I have maintained that image of their suffering very
> > vividly in my imagination. And I still maintain that they are suffering
> > punishment, which surely would not include being bound together. it
> > seems much more appropriate to me for them never to touch, like Tantalus
> > in Greek mythology is "tantalized" by food and drink almost at his very
> > lips until he reaches to consume it. Such a punishment would seem to me
> > to typify the sort of suffering dante depicts here, which does seem
> > rather severe, especially for this early rung that isn't even in the
> > Inferno proper (and actually the sins of some of the others, as well as
> > Paolo and Francesca would seem to me, given the Catholic midset, to
> > warrant something more severe than Limbo! But perhaps once again Dante
> > is playing with things a bit: is Ulysses' crime so much worse--as a
> > false counselor, confined much further down, as described in Canto
> > 26--so much worse than adultery and lust? hmmm.)
> > Anyway, these are my thoughts. I am almost tempted to ask an old
> > prof of mine who specializes in Dante. I would guess he would cite the
> > same sources as you, but I can't help but think that I didn't entirely
> > invent such a vivid image that has stayed with me for nearly 20 years
> > (yes, I am just barely old enough to have been reading dante 20 years
> > ago, and NOT been a prodigy :). Does it really make sense to you that
> > such misery as Dante describes coincides with the kind of satisfaction
> > you attribute to Francesca? genuinely curious, Venus
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, 27 Jan 2002,
> > Richard Seddon wrote:
> >
> > > Marcia and Venus
> > >
> > > Venus: I second Marcia welcome in hearing your voice again. You were
> > > missed.
> > >
> > > I was careless in my remarks about the book. A not unusual
> > > occurrence.
> > >
> > > One of the major themes of the Divine Comedy is that admittance and
> > > repentance is what defines whether a soul is assigned to hell or
> > > purgatory. If the soul admits to their sin and repents it is assigned
> > > to purgatory regardless of the sin. If the soul does not admit and
> > > repent then it is assigned to a circle of hell dependent upon the sin.
> > >
> > > Francesca blames the book for getting her involved in sin. She never
> > > has admitted or repented of the sin itself. She does not repent
> > > therefore she is in hell.
> > >
> > > Venus: I find no mention in any of the translations I have that
> > > Francesca and Paolo can't touch. I do find that they are together
> > > being blown around in the noise and winds along with the souls of Dido
> > > and others. I cannot find separation as a condition of their
> > > punishment anywhere. What Pinsky translates as "those two who move
> > > together" the temple classics gives as "those two that go together",
> > > Ciardi gives it as "with those two swept together" and in fact Dorothy
> > > Sayers says "And hand in hand on the dark wind drifting go".
> > > Furthermore, Ciardi translates line 100-102 as (Francesca is speaking)
> > >
> > > Love, which permits no loved one not to love
> > > took me so strongly with delight in him
> > > that we are one in hell, as we were above.
> > >
> > > Rick Seddon
> > > McIntosh, NM, USA
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Marcia Karp" <[log in to unmask]>
> > > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > > Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2002 11:09 AM
> > > Subject: Re: Thoughts on "La Figlia che Piange"
> > >
> > >
> > > > Venus Freeman wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > I also appreciate the
> > > > > point (whoever made it first--forgive me for forgetting and thus
> > > > > being unable to give credit where it's due (was it Marcia?)) that
> > > > > it is the
> > > book
> > > > > that kills them. But is it really? The problem, the reason for
> > > > > their death and condemnation is because, as Mandelbaum translates
> > > > > it, "they
> > > read
> > > > > no more that day." I do see the point that it was the reading
> > > > > together that brought them to the moment of their sin. And I have
> > > > > always loved
> > > the
> > > > > perfect understatement of the line: it conveys a great deal by
> > > > > simply telling us they put the book down.
> > > >
> > > > Dear Venus,
> > > > How nice to hear your voice again.
> > > > I didn't say that the book killed them, I think Rick S did, but
> > > > that
> > > Francesca
> > > > calls the book a pander -- that is, the story of Launcelot's being
> > > enthralled to
> > > > love excited (to be coarse) Paolo and Francesca to their own illicit
> > > > acts.
> > > They
> > > > resisted until their feelings were enacted in the story. As you and
> > > > Rick
> > > do, I
> > > > think it important that they were reading. Compare this from
> > > > Auden's "In
> > > memory
> > > > of W. B. Yeats":
> > > >
> > > > For poetry makes nothing happen: it survives
> > > > In the valley of its saying where executives
> > > > Would never want to tamper; it flows south
> > > > From ranches of isolation and the busy griefs,
> > > > Raw towns that we believe and die in; it survives,
> > > > A way of happening, a mouth.
> > > >
> > > > I like the happy coincidence of Auden's mouth with the fatal kiss.
> > > Anyway, Rick,
> > > > here's a paper waiting for you to write in your semester's leave.
> > > >
> > > > You make a nice point in your observation on the tact and power
> > > > of
> > > «quel
> > > > giorno pił non vi leggemmo avante» ("that day we read no more").
> > > >
> > > > Marcia
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>