Q&A with Deborah Rae Cota discussion

This one was hard for me to grasp. I couldn't wrap my thoughts around the meanings and my interpretation was not in line with my Instructor's. It was my interpretation though and I admit needing to cover the book again.

There are some that believe The Divine Comedy is just a struggle of good and evil, while others say Dantes travels through the circles of hell are like the stages of man through life.
Luckily, I had an english teacher that double majored in psychology and told us to try and view the book knowing that there are really only two real emotions: love and fear, and everything else we feel are variations in between. IT gave me a chance to read it as fiction and not so much from the theological standpoint.
So, using that as a key to my analogy, I fell in love with one of the truest, most sincere love stories I'd ever read. The struggle and determination to reach Heaven, when he was so overcome with fear of possible damnation and being condemned to hell for all eternity. But in the end...love conquers all. It appealed to the optomist in me and the competitor. You fight for what you love. It's the story of a journey, the journey of a soul to find God, find peace and find its own true self.

(Now you know why I used the name "Dante" as the last name of the family in my book.)

If you get a chance, try listening to an audio book version. Listening to it read, by another voice other than your own, brings a completley different coloration and feel to it. To this day, I still learn a little bit more about the story everytime I listen to it. = )

Thanks Deborah. I will do that. I guess because it was a tough read I may have lost interest but I can appreciate the story. My teacher at St. Mary's covered it quick but we had much to do in a very short time.

There are some schools (Chabot did, thankfully) that offer two semester classes on The Divine Comedy, with one semester on the structure of the cantos and the other dedicated solely to the nine circles alone. It isn't something that can be studied quickly. Even the characters Virgil and Dante meet along the way are like a who's who of the 13th century. TMZ had nothing on this dude!! There are several recordings and all of them are different...Cheerz!