/lit/ - Literature

Every time someone mentions reading Finnegans Wake I imagine that cunt.

Durr, look at how smart I am, understanding this incomprehensible garbage with the help of my guide that explains everything to me.

I read so much Russian literature that I shit St. Petersburg.

>>1973840

I generally don't like reading translations. Not because HURR DURR SO SMART, but because a lot of them suck.

Reading The Inferno with the right translation or the wrong one makes a difference bigger than night or day.

>>1974022
>The Inferno
>Wrong translation

Oh god. More than anything, the Inferno suffers from this. I have a translation that freaking RHYMES. It is unbearably awful, but makes for some hilarious wtf moments. I'll dig it up and post some.

Also, I advise the Penguin edition one. Sure, the foreword is three times longer than the Inferno itself, but it is the best translation i've found, surprisingly, and dirt cheap.

>>1974027
I love the Penguin (Musa) translation. It's very accessible. The Norton (Palma) translation is also pretty good, but Palma only did the Inferno.

i suggest the mandelbaum translation

>>1974075
Thats the copy I have. Finished inferno, but still haven't read the other two. Apparently critics like Puratorio the best.

>>1974011
Still the only funny one.

The Durling translation is the best

>>1974076
Any good critic will like the Comedy as a whole the best

OC?

>>1974027

Are you talking about the Sayers translation? The experiment in rhyming is interesting, but failed, but her notes are AMAZING.

As the other anon says, Mandelbaum is pretty good.