3 ms·

I think there is a limit. If it's a topic you can look things up about (Maybe something technical where you haven't read the prerequisites.). The initial exampl

I think there is a limit. If it's a topic you can look things up about (Maybe something technical where you haven't read the prerequisites.). The initial example from the article is interesting, in that you can learn so much about history with the looked-up context, but you can still follow and enjoy the books without it - you will just not know which characters and events were real! I think you will probably remember the history better this way with a fun story-context than wrote memorization, which I believe is a point of the author. Some material, I feel like I am too stupid for, or my brain is wired so differently from the author I will never make sense of it. Examples: Gravity's Rainbow, and parts 2 + 3 of The Divine Comedy. (Granted, the latter is full of parts where looking up contexts and references will help, but I am not sure what to do with the former; there are rare sections where I can gain a purchase on events transiently, but it mostly passes through without absorption for reasons I don't understand).

beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago
Gravity's Rainbow is downright abstract at times, but if you use a guide like this [0] then you can move beyond trying to figure out what actually happens and really enjoy how Pynchon twists language and sentences into incredible images and scenes. Some of it is, for lack of a better term, downright fantastical rather than literal. [0]: https://people.math.harvard.edu/%7Ectm/links/culture/rainbow.bell.html https://people.math.harvard.edu/%7Ectm/links/culture/rainbow...
jasinjames 2y ago
For the divine comedy I can recommend the Robert Durling english translation. Each canto has a large section of notes which give all of that context and various interpretations in condensed form. Really excellent stuff.
- lanstin 2y ago
  The problem here is that hell is exciting and heaven is dull. I enjoyed the John Ciardi translation of hell a lot and purgatory in a sort of academic way and couldn't make progress thru heaven.

beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago

Gravity's Rainbow is downright abstract at times, but if you use a guide like this [0] then you can move beyond trying to figure out what actually happens and really enjoy how Pynchon twists language and sentences into incredible images and scenes. Some of it is, for lack of a better term, downright fantastical rather than literal. [0]: https://people.math.harvard.edu/%7Ectm/links/culture/rainbow.bell.html https://people.math.harvard.edu/%7Ectm/links/culture/rainbow...

jasinjames 2y ago

For the divine comedy I can recommend the Robert Durling english translation. Each canto has a large section of notes which give all of that context and various interpretations in condensed form. Really excellent stuff.

lanstin 2y ago
The problem here is that hell is exciting and heaven is dull. I enjoyed the John Ciardi translation of hell a lot and purgatory in a sort of academic way and couldn't make progress thru heaven.