Despite reading the Inferno in college and finding it quite interesting, I only recently learned that it was part of a trilogy.
Does anyone know why the Inferno appears to be more widely read than Purgatorio or Paradiso?
Does anyone know why the Inferno appears to be more widely read than Purgatorio or Paradiso?
"If it bleeds, it leads." Bad news gets more attention than good news, and what could be more bad than seeing people suffer in hell?
* https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/the-seduction-of-pess...
The self-righteous urge probably contributes: assurance that "I wouldn't possibly qualify as anywhere near this bad."
I think the reason why the Inferno is solely taught is becaue it's just so long a text, and the characters Dante interacts with in his descent are more familiar to an early student of the classics than the later volumes.
I would absolutely recommend reading Purgatorio and Paradiso if you have a chance. Though it's long, it's quick reading, and sublime is an understatement.
The other two not as much afaik.
For what it’s worth, in my neck of the woods we always learned that The Divine Comedy is a trilogy and dove into Inferno.
In the Inferno he exercises a call for sympathy for putting certain characters there (is god fair for condemning them? Remember the beautiful case of Ulysses or lovers) but also criticism by putting others in that place, even some not yet dead at the time. :)