"Here failed the strength of my high fantasy;/Already though my will and my desire/Were, as a balanced wheel is moved, turned by/The love that moves the sun and other stars."
Ascent to Love is a study guide (or perhaps, more accurately, an interpretive overview) of Dante's Divine Comedy. I heard someone say once that Peter Leithart is a better literary critic than a theologian, and based on what I've read of his stuff so far, it seems to check out. This was excellent. He charts a course through the three parts of the Comedy and ties it all together as a pursuit of Love--not the smarmy emotion of so many Hollywood movies, but the burning, bright holiness that makes everything work. Dante begins wandering in a dark wood. He is lost, hunted, and unable to reach his life's goal. But his cries are heard, and he is sent a guide--the great poet Virgil--to show him the way out of his errors. His journey is the wonderful song of the Commedia.
The Importance of the Divine Comedy
Dante is one of the foundational texts of the Western tradition--I would struggle with calling any man educated who is not at least basically familiar with the plot and a few of the most famous images. If you do not know being "lost in a dark wood," the terrors of the Nine Circles of Hell, Judas being chewed for eternity, the fierce runners on the Mount, the shining saints in the eye of the eagle, and the shining light in Beatrice's face, then you have work to do. You need to read the Comedy. It will delight you, shock you (we don't expect fart jokes in high-brow literature), and reorient you to a different way of seeing the world. But a large work like Dante is intimidating. Where do you start?
Start at the beginning! First, acquire a good English translation of the
Comedy (unless you happen to read Italian). There are several choices. I have read Ciardi's translation (rhymed), Mark Musa's translation (rather literal, as far as I can tell), and I am looking forward to trying Joe Carlson's
version. I've learned something from all of them; any would be a good place to start.
Second, buy Leithart's Ascent to Love. Just as Dante needed a guide to make it through his pilgrimage, you may need one too. And with this guidebook in your hand, you will be perplexed by neither Limbo nor terza rima. There is quite a bit of good stuff in there--don't let it lie idle while you wander lost in your own busy wood. The Love that moves the sun and other stars is calling.
