Chris (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} simon_stylites) wrote,@ 2009-02-20 13:54:00 |
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reading is for chumps
I was reading this book on Dante, on his "De Vulgari Eloquentia", which I'm presenting on in an upcoming class. And it mentioned his "La Vita Nuova". And I've read "La Vita Nuova", shortly after I first read "La Commedia", a few years ago. And yet, and yet I remember so little about it. There's a lady he likes, and there are some poems among some prose bits. He really likes the lady, but I don't think they get it on. That's about all I remember.
And that's about all I remember! What kind of nonsense is this. I READ THE BOOK. Why can't I remember anything about it? I remember more about certain books that I HAVEN'T read, that I have only flipped through at bookstores, or heard friends talk about. READING IS A LIE. And I have built my life on a lie. Reading had better get its act together, or we're splitsville.
* * *
Also I was reading another book on Dante, which was written in Spanish (which I don't read) and occasionally quoted authors in Italian (which I really don't read), without translating, and when it would make that leap from the one language to the other, it was linguistically gut-wrenching and nauseating. That was pretty awesome. It is the sort of thing that other people describe enjoying in roller coasters. I do not enjoy roller coasters. But I enjoyed this. Oh reading, I can't stay mad at you.
I was reading this book on Dante, on his "De Vulgari Eloquentia", which I'm presenting on in an upcoming class. And it mentioned his "La Vita Nuova". And I've read "La Vita Nuova", shortly after I first read "La Commedia", a few years ago. And yet, and yet I remember so little about it. There's a lady he likes, and there are some poems among some prose bits. He really likes the lady, but I don't think they get it on. That's about all I remember.
And that's about all I remember! What kind of nonsense is this. I READ THE BOOK. Why can't I remember anything about it? I remember more about certain books that I HAVEN'T read, that I have only flipped through at bookstores, or heard friends talk about. READING IS A LIE. And I have built my life on a lie. Reading had better get its act together, or we're splitsville.
* * *
Also I was reading another book on Dante, which was written in Spanish (which I don't read) and occasionally quoted authors in Italian (which I really don't read), without translating, and when it would make that leap from the one language to the other, it was linguistically gut-wrenching and nauseating. That was pretty awesome. It is the sort of thing that other people describe enjoying in roller coasters. I do not enjoy roller coasters. But I enjoyed this. Oh reading, I can't stay mad at you.
