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Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

The Divine Comedy | Canto III | Inferno

"[...] vidi una 'nsegna che girando correva tanto ratta [...]" Dante Alighieri 

 
Canto III

E io ch’avea d’error la testa cinta,
dissi: "Maestro, che è quel ch’i’ odo?
e che gent’è che par nel duol sì vinta?". 33

Ed elli a me: "Questo misero modo

tegnon l’anime triste di coloro
che visser sanza ’nfamia e sanza lodo. 36

Mischiate sono a quel cattivo coro

de li angeli che non furon ribelli
né fur fedeli a Dio, ma per sé fuoro. 39

Caccianli i ciel per non esser men belli,

né lo profondo inferno li riceve,
ch’alcuna gloria i rei avrebber d’elli". 42

E io: "Maestro, che è tanto greve

a lor che lamentar li fa sì forte?".
Rispuose: "Dicerolti molto breve. 45

Questi non hanno speranza di morte,

e la lor cieca vita è tanto bassa,
che ’nvidïosi son d’ogne altra sorte. 48

Fama di loro il mondo esser non lassa;

misericordia e giustizia li sdegna:
non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa". 51

E io, che riguardai, vidi una ’nsegna

che girando correva tanto ratta
,
che d’ogne posa mi parea indegna; 54

e dietro le venìa sì lunga tratta

di gente, ch’i’ non averei creduto
che morte tanta n’avesse disfatta. 57     

In Antinferno are miserably punished the sad souls who lived without infamy and without praise. They are the so-called sloth, souls who didn't work good or bad in life, for the cowardice of their choice.

























Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Fast feet

Speed in greek mythology


In ancient greek mythology many characters were known for their speed:

- Antilochus, that in the Trojan war was distingueshed for his swiftness on foot;


Antilochus on an Attic red-figure anphora, ca.470 BC, Louvre museum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antilochus


- Achilles, a Greek hero of the Trojan war, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad; he was known not only for his famous heel, but also for his strenght and fast feet, that made him earn the well-known ephitet.

Achilles Wounded in the Heel by Paris, 1850, plaster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles


- Hermes, the great messenger of the Gods in Greek mythology: for this reason he had wings on his feet, in order to be very fast.

A canvas representing Hermes with wings on his feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes

Slow Reading

How to comprehend and appreciate a complex text

Slow reading is the intentional reduction in the speed of reading, carried out to increase comprehension or pleasure. The concept appears to have originated in the study of philosophy and literature as a technique to more fully comprehend and appreciate a complex text. More recently, there has been increased interest in slow reading as result of the slow movement and its focus on decelerating the pace of modern life.



The use of slow reading in literary criticism is sometimes referred to as close reading. Of less common usage is the term, "deep reading" (Birkerts, 1994). Slow reading is contrasted with speed reading which involves techniques to increase the rate of reading without adversely affecting comprehension, and contrasted with skimming which employs visual page cues to increase reading speed.

The earliest reference to slow reading appears to be in Nietzsche's (1887) preface to Daybreak: "It is not for nothing that one has been a philologist, perhaps one is a philologist still, that is to say, a teacher of slow reading."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_reading

Saturday, 23 October 2010

Aesop's tale: "The hare and the tortoise"

Fast/Slow through words, texts, books, poetry, tales...


"The Hare was once boasting of his speed before the other animals. ‘I have never yet been beaten,’ said he, ‘when I put forth my full speed. I challenge any one here to race with me.’
The Tortoise said quietly, ‘I accept your challenge.’
‘That is a good joke,’ said the Hare; ‘I could dance round you all the way.’
‘Keep your boasting till you’ve beaten,’ answered the Tortoise. ‘Shall we race?’
So a course was fixed and a start was made. The Hare darted almost out of sight at once, but soon stopped and, to show his contempt for the Tortoise, lay down to have a nap. The Tortoise plodded on and plodded on, and when the Hare awoke from his nap, he saw the Tortoise just near the winning-post and could not run up in time to save the race. Then said the Tortoise: ‘Plodding wins the race.’"
Aesop