I am happy to report that at 12:45 am this morning, I read the final verses of the Divine Comedy. It was exhilarating, and it was nearly overwhelming. It took me much longer to read Paradiso than Inferno and Purgatorio, because the language and the concepts are much denser and more abstract. This only makes the climb slower and more difficult. It’s also tremendously rewarding. I am going to be thinking about this for a long, long time, though I already know what I’m going to say in my forthcoming essay. I have never read a more audacious work of the imagination. When T.S. Eliot said that the two giants of Western literature are Shakespeare and Dante, and no other, I thought he might be overstating the case. I no longer believe that. You may never read the Divine Comedy, but if you’re thinking about it, know that it’s not only as good as they say, but that it’s more wondrous than you have imagined. But do make sure that you’ve found a translation you can live with, and one with great notes. I really love the Hollander translation, but I found the exhaustive notes to be, well, exhausting. I read Paradiso with the Ciardi at my side for his clear and excellent notes. This gets really unwieldy. If I had it to do again, I would probably buy the Mark Musa translation, which has the clarity, directness, and elegance of the Hollander, with Ciardi-like notes for non-specialists.
Anyway, one of the Big Ideas that stays with me from Paradiso is one that’s absolutely central to Eastern Christian theology, but also there in Western Christian theology: that the final end of all souls is theosis, or total unity with God. This is what Dante’s pilgrimage through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven is all about. Because the Christian God is a personal deity, to become united with Him is to know him in every sense. Because his essence is Love, you cannot ultimately know Him without also loving Him. Truth and goodness are separate but inseparable in God. Beatrice tells Dante, in Paradiso XXVII, speaking of the Seraphim and the Cherubim, which are the orders of angels existing in closest proximity to God:
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