From Milton to Martin

It took an eternity a while, but I finally finished reading Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton. It was a humbling experience. I never felt more ignorant about mythology, geography and the English language in my life. The last book to make me feel that inadequate was Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise.

In the edition I read, the translator, Christopher Ricks, included an abundance of footnotes at the bottom of every page to assist readers with Milton's references and use of words. They were initially helpful, but eventually annoying.

Through the first few books, I tried to read them as I would any footnote. Each time I saw an italicized superscripted number, I would jump out of the flow of the poem, read the corresponding footnote, frantically search for where I left off and jump back in. I soon grew tired of this and went with an alternate strategy, which mainly involved reading the entire page of poetry before reading all of the footnotes. I don't know if this decreased my understanding of the writing, but it definitely increased my enjoyment of it.

I still find it a tad bizarre that a three-hundred-year-old book, written in English, would require translation into English. It makes me wonder how future translations of current books will look three hundred years from now. I worry that scholars of the future will translate such serials as Sweet Valley High and Star Trek because historians in 2406, searching through the ruins of the great library of Amazon.com (somewhere in ancient Seattle), will mistakenly label them as classics and attribute them to the most prominent American novelists of our time, Pamela Anderson and William Shatner, who, due to erroneous conclusions, will also receive credit for writing a multitude of plays including Macbeth, Death of a Salesman and Rent.

Although it sometimes felt more like required reading than reading for leisure, I'm glad I experienced Milton. And should I forget, I have Philip Pullman to thank. If he had not credited Paradise Lost as a major source of inspiration for his trilogy, I would have foolishly avoided Milton completely.

By the way, the book's cover art was a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (of whom I a fan) called The Fall of the Rebel Angels. I only mention this so that it's recorded somewhere that I can easily find because there will be a day when I'll want to recall it and will inevitably draw a blank.

The same week that I finished Milton, I also began and finished two novellas by Steve Martin - Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company. The transition from Milton to Martin was tremendous, but I figured I deserved some lighter fare and some laughter after Milton's less-than-hilarious epic. Of Martin's two books, I liked Pleasure better. It had a stronger plot, a more likable character, better pacing and more humor than Shopgirl.