The Divine Comedy [Mass Market Paperback]

Dante (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 12, 1955

The greatest poem of the Middle Ages, in the standard Carlyle-Okey-Wicksteed translation, with full notes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The English Dante of choice.” –Hugh Kenner

“Exactly what we have waited for these years, a Dante with clarity, eloquence, terror, and profoundly moving depths.” –Robert Fagles, Princeton University

“A marvel of fidelity to the original, of sobriety, and truly, of inspired poetry.” –Henri Peyre, Yale University


From the Hardcover edition.

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The greatest poem of the Middle Ages, in the standard Carlyle-Okey-Wicksteed translation, with full notes.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (July 12, 1955)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394701267
• ISBN-13: 978-0394701264
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.4 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #597,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Gorgeous, September 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Divine Comedy (Mass Market Paperback)

Seven centuries after Dante Alighieri wrote La Divina Commedia, it remains one of the most spectacularly amazing literary masterpieces in any language of any time.

The story of a spiritual journey, The Divine Comedy is essentially an allegory which began on Good Friday 1300 (when Dante was thirty-five) and lasted for just seven days. It is also a bitter political polemic, directed against all in authority in Italy at the time, but particularly those in Dante's native Florence, and also serves as a denouncement of the wealth and corruption of the papacy.

The Divine Comedy embraces the celestial and the terrestrial, the mythological and the historical, the practical and the ethical. It is a discourse on the role of reason in faith and the individual in society.

The Divine Comedy is a poem in which Dante views himself as a pilgrim, representative of all mankind, who is led on a journey through the various circles of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. It is written in three volumes (Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso), each composed of thirty-three cantos (there is one introductory canto serving as an overview).

Originally written in Italian, The Divine Comedy uses a rhyming scheme known as terza rima, which was invented by Dante, himself. Many translations attempt to adhere to this rhyming scheme, however this only confines and constrains the translator in his ability to capture the meaning and nuance of the original text. Anyone not able to read The Divine Comedy in its original Italian would be far better off in choosing a blank verse translation.

Dante's first guide is the poet, Virgil, who leads him through Hell and Purgatory. As Dante and Virgil descend through the ever-deepening circles, they speak with the damned, who are being punished according to their sins on earth.

Some of these denizens of Hell are mythological, some are historical and some are Florentines who were Dante's contemporaries.

Within Inferno, the condemned sinners are referred to as "shades." Virgil, himself, is first introduced as a shade. Although this can be confusing to some readers, the confusion can be easily cleared up once we realize Dante is employing the image of shades because, in his eyes, dead souls have grown faint through the absence of God's light.

Once Dante begins to work his way upwards, towards Paradise, Virgil, who is, himself, a resident in limbo, must take his leave and Dante finds his guide to be Beatrice (Bice Portinari, a woman Dante met and fell in love with in 1274 and who died in 1290). It is Beatrice who leads Dante on to Paradiso and his final vision of God.

The name, The Divine Comedy, is derived from two words, comus and oda, which, in their literal translation mean, "rustic song." Dante, in a letter to a Ghibellinline Captain in Verona, said he was attempting to separate his work from a pure tragedy (that which begins in tranquility and ends in sadness, e.g., Romeo and Juliet), from a comedy, which can begin in sadness but, by its very nature, ends in love, joy or perfection. The term, "divine" was suggested to Dante by Giovanni Boccaccio as a way of representing the content of the poem and the beauty that it holds.

The Divine Comedy is, without a doubt, one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature. In a literal sense, it is Dante's own depiction of the state of souls after death, but allegorically, it is so much more. On this deeper level, the poem investigates mankind's eternal search for salvation in which he must first descend to the depths of hell before rising to the heights of Paradise.

The Divine Comedy is a masterpiece of subject matter but it is also a masterpiece of Dante's Tuscan dialect (which eventually became the literary language of the whole of Italy). Those lucky enough to read it in the original Italian will find the language gorgeous beyond compare; a limpid and ethereal Italian that remains so fresh and invigorating it could have been written yesterday.

The Divine Comedy is not the easiest work in literature, either to read or to understand. But, for those who are prepared to make the effort, the rewards are far greater than could ever have been anticipated.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inventing Hell, September 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Divine Comedy (Mass Market Paperback)

Dante's great epic poem comprises three parts: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradisio. It is a moral allegory of spiritual growth, following Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. In each of these places he witnesses (successively) the tortures and ecstasies of actual people, both historical figures and people still living in Dante's own time. The Inferno is the most entertaining of the three. It is said that Dante "invented Hell," being the first man to describe it in detail as a place of fire and brimstone where devils torture their victims in accordance with their sins. The fact that he described the tortures of several former Popes did not leave him in the good graces of the Catholic church. I recommend a translation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Ciardi, or Lawrence Grant White. I strongly recommend against the rhymed couplet translation by Dorothy Sayers, in which the rhyme most often overcomes the reason.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Classic, July 9, 2000

By 

Jonathan Bennett (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Divine Comedy (Mass Market Paperback)

Dante, with the Divine Comedy, has produced a work that has endured for centuries and influenced many of the greatest Renaissance thinkers. This is quite a testament to his abilities. The Divine Comedy is divided into three basic sections: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante begins his travels in hell. Guided by the Latin poet Virgil, he sees kings, monks, popes, and an assortment of other people, all of whom are tormented in ways fitting the level and type of their sins. After leaving hell, he continues to the mountain of Purgatory. Here he encounters those souls who must be purged of their sinfulness in order to reach heaven. Finally, he enters into Paradise, where the lovely Beatrice now guides him. He travels through the seven planetary heavens (an interesting note on the science of Dante's time) where he dialogues with the Saints, beholds the radiance and glory of the Triune God and is told the mysteries of Heaven. Dante presents his poem with vividness and great detail allowing the reader to comprehend the horrors of Hell and the otherworldly beauty of Paradise.

I particularly enjoyed reading about the many colorful people he encounters on his journey. It is interesting to see the people he puts in hell, purgatory, and paradise and to hear their stories. Many are famous historical figures. His comedy has many examples of allegory, prophecy and even theology. He tackles issues such as the Atonement, divine justice, and free will. The story includes many references to both classical pagan stories (e.g. Greek mythology) and Christian writings (e.g. Thomas Aquinas). The only downside (in my opinion anyway) is that Dante devotes too much time to philosophical discussions relating to Aristotle, who was popular with nearly every prominent medieval thinker. These discussions slow the pace of the poem at times.

This particular edition contains all three parts of the comedy and is unabridged. The low price is a plus too. It is in prose, although the language is pretty stilted. It uses "thees" an "thous," for example. This is not necessarily bad because it makes the story quite dignified, but some of the sentences can be very difficult to understand. Here is an example: "Thy kindliness not only succoreth whoso requesteth, but doth oftentimes freely forerun request." Fortunately, there are long introductions that summarize each chapter (canto) and numerous endnotes, which explain in detail the people, places, things, and ideas of Dante's work. Overall, I highly recommend the Divine Comedy to every reader, especially for those interested in medieval literature. Still, you may want to find another edition.