As Promised...

I promised that I would read Dante's Inferno and, I am. Actually, I am reading Inferno now, to be followed by Purgatorio and then Paradiso. I chose the trilogy as translated by John D. Sinclair.

So, I went into Border's Books to make some purchases and decided to finally quiet the cosmos and get Inferno. I went to look it up in the Customer Reference Computer when an employee approached me and asked if I needed any help. I asked him to help me find Dante's Inferno, he looked up where to find it and led me there. There are many translations of it and the other 2 in the trilogy. As I was choosing which translation I wanted, the employee came back up to me with a Cliff Notes and told me that I would probably need it. I sort of giggled at him and said quizzically, "Cliff's Notes?" He backed up a bit, said something about not trying to... and then asked me if I was reading it for class. I told him I was just reading it on my own due to curiosity and he told me that some people have a hard time understanding it. He left and I felt somewhat insulted and flattered all at the same time. Insulted because he sort of assumed that I wasn't intelligent enough to read the book without Cliff Notes, which was considered cheating in my school when I was growing up so, I never used them unless the teacher instructed us to. And, then I felt flattered that he thought my 34 year old butt was still in school. What school I don't know. But, whether it was high school or college, that is awesome!

So, I made my choice and ditched the Cliff Notes, went to the register and walked out a little unsure of myself.

I will admit that Inferno is not the easiest read and, as I said, I was feeling a little unsure so, when I started reading it, I struggled a little bit to grasp the Old English style of writing. It has been quite some time since I last had to read Old English but, I can say that I found my groove and am doing it without the aid of Cliff Notes. Thank you very much Mr. Border's Employee guy who undermined my ability to read an intelligently written, thoughtful book from the 1200's.