The Reading Room

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6:52 PM

I really thought that the two answers I last wrote would tip me over into 5k... did not expect them to be one-vote wonders. Anyways. More reason to work on my self-answered Q&A that I've been teasing for so long :)

2 hours later…

Bookworm

8:53 PM

Q: Full English or French online translation of "De pugna avium"

I am trying very hard to find an English (or if not French) translation of the Carolingian poem "De pugna avium" from Theodulf of Orleans. I found a Latin version. However, it is very difficult to find a full rendition in English (or French). Where could such a version be found?

1 hour later…

Tsundoku

9:55 PM

@bobble Sounds familiar. I could add that voting often doesn't make sense on SE, but then I would sound like a broken record.

bobble

@Tsundoku you mean a load of cheering? That's what I would expect to hear when a record is broken

Tsundoku

@bobble I think you might hear jeering rather than cheering.

bobble

@Tsundoku depends on the record, I would assume. And if there's no one to record it, perhaps you'd hear the sound of silence.

Tsundoku

@bobble Nah, a broken record never sounds good. Have you ever heard one?

bobble

@Tsundoku if I had a nickel for every time I listened to a record, I'd be broke

Tsundoku

10:13 PM

@bobble The words quoted in that Andre Aciman question are spoken by Francesca. Do you know who that is?

bobble

@Tsundoku no idea, I didn't bother looking for more information once I found the Goodreads quote

Tsundoku

@bobble It's Francesca da Rimini from Canto V from "Inferno" in the Divine Comedy. The story of Paolo and Francesca is probably the most famous one from that poem. The quote is from Longfellow's translation.

As soon as I saw the name "Francesca", I knew it was from that story.

bobble

@Tsundoku is that necessary to answer the question? I saw it as obvious once I got the fuller context within the book; it's clear that the line in question is just a restatement of the line right before it.

To be honest, it was obvious to me before finding context, but then my English reading skills are, according to standardized tests, above average :)

Tsundoku

Well, you looked neither at the context in Canto V, nor at the context in Aciman's novel.

bobble

By "context" I meant the fact that it's literally saying the same thing as right the line right before it

Sure, I could go deeper into allusions and whatnot, but the surface meaning was perfectly clear and that's all the question seemed to be asking to me

Bookworm

10:35 PM

Q: "Tradition is meant to be broken" - who said it, Emerson or Thoreau?

I seem to recall a quote from either Ralph Waldo Emerson or Henry David Thoreau that was something like "Tradition is meant to be broken." Which of them said it?