47 Comments

This is going to be a life changing experience! I am so excited to be a part of it and to savor all the richness of Dante.

Expand full comment

Thank you Lisa for everything! Excited to descend to Hell this January haha :)

Expand full comment

I have been feeling daunted by the Divine Comedy, not sure if I will be able to pick up the rich nuances. This is perfect.

Expand full comment

Will be looking forward to seeing you in the group Peter!

Expand full comment

Learned about this from the War and Peace 2025 slow read thread, and I think I will try it! Have tried three times to get through the Divine Comedy, but I have stalled out between Hell and Purgatory each time. Hopefully doing it slowly and with others is what I need! Thx for doing this!

Expand full comment

Hi Paula! So glad that you're joining us in this journey! I am assuming being stalled between Hell and Purgatory is not a pleasant place at all, haha! :) If it's not too inconvenient could you forward the link to the thread you mentioned? :) I am so curious to see Dante Book-Club mentioned! :)

Expand full comment

Indeed it is not! Looking forward to making my way out of thereβ€¦πŸ˜…

Hopefully this works, I’ve not tried to forward a link before. Simon mentioned it in the comments section along with a link when someone said they were interested in the Divine Comedy too.

https://open.substack.com/pub/footnotesandtangents/p/welcome-to-war-and-peace-2025?r=ecyat&utm_medium=ios

Expand full comment

Simon is such a kind soul! This is amazing and this is why I love Substack community. :) Thank you Paula!

Expand full comment

I also am here from Simon Haisell's War and Peace reference. Very excited for this. Thank you Vashik.

Expand full comment

What a great way to start 2025. Very excited!

Expand full comment

Thank you Raminta! I am hoping you will join in this journey!

Expand full comment

Does anyone know of a 2025 slow read along of Milton’s β€˜Paradise Lost’ to parallel this?

Expand full comment

Exciting stuff Vashik! Excited to join along on this journey

Expand full comment

I am so glad you will be joining Ilan!!

Expand full comment

I went to the public library today and picked up a copy of the Mandelbaum edition that I can keep for 9 weeks. But I have looked at purchasing the newer Michael Palma translation mostly because I like the format. Have you looked at his translation, snd if so, what do you think?

Expand full comment

Hi Donna, first of all, I would like to mention that I am so happy that you will be joining the read-along! Sorry that I did not mention Palma's translation in my post. It is a good translation and I would love to say that any edition/translation will work as long as you enjoy the copy that you have and the way words flow. :) From the messages I received over the past 24 hours I can see that we will have a quite diverse set of translations in this read-along which is amazing, each one reveals something new! :)

Please let me know what do you think of Mandelbaum translation! How does it sound to you? :)

Expand full comment

My first impression of Mandelbaum is, as I said about Palma, the format. The lines all run together, so, as I read it, I feel like I, myself, am running, dadada, dada-dadada. I also have a large Longfellow edition with the beautiful Gustav DorΓ© illustrations, and that one, like Palma, has space between the stanzas, to give one time to reflect before moving on. I like that.

Expand full comment

Very excited to join this and contribute ! The timing feels cosmic. Thank you, Vashik

Expand full comment

Very happy to see you joining Gemma! Let us descend to Hell so we can rise to Paradise! :)

Expand full comment

Finally! Here we go. So excited for this, Vashik.

Expand full comment

Thank you so much Sayani! I am hoping you will join!

Expand full comment

I have just subscribed to the Dante read along. I have both the Mandelbaum Everyman edition and the Longfellow translation with the Dore illlustrations. I will start by reading both concurrently until I find whether one fits better for me than another. Who knows! Maybe I will finish by reading both to the end. ☺️

Expand full comment

Haha, I am currently balancing Mandelbaum's translation with Hollander's. I also have the original text next to me, sometimes I go to sleep at night and dream of Inferno in three different interpretations :D Pray for my sanity this year haha

Expand full comment

Hello Vashik. Just a question about reading one canto per week. Would the reading of the Divine Comedy then spill over into 2026?

Expand full comment

Hi Joseph! That’s a good question and I was planning to announce on Friday that we are going to stick to two cantos, which will mean that we will finish the whole book by the 25th December 2025. Does this work for you?

Expand full comment

+ Reading schedule will be sent to everyone on Friday :)

Expand full comment

Wonderful! This is perfect.

Expand full comment

Thank you for offering this! My sons got me this book for Christmas and I’d love to finally read all of it. I’ve just read snippets here and there prior

Expand full comment

Hello! πŸ‘‹ Also here via recommendation from the 2024 Footnotes & Tangents War & Peace read-along led by Simon Haisell. Looking forward to it!

Expand full comment

Ok I bought an Everyman edition (used hardcover in new condition $20 wow) : βœ…

Turned on notifications: βœ…

Very excited:βœ…

What date do we start:⁉️

Do I have to pay for subscription, handicapped and do not have much money at the end of the month, using this a a way to exercise my degrading brain.⁉️

Expand full comment

Yes! πŸ™Œ

Expand full comment

Excellent. Can't wait

Expand full comment

This is an offer I can’t resist… For years I have been considering reading the Divine Comedy but somehow never got around to kick off. This is the perfect opportunity, thus many thanks go out to you, Vashik. I will have a different language version at hand (Italian/German) but this should not make a big difference when discussing the individual cantos.

Expand full comment