Customer Reviews

Divine Comedy: Inferno (Cliffs Notes)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I began the Comedy with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's interpretation; which, though lofty and elegant, is about 10 times harder to comprehend than the King James version of the Bible. So I switched to A.S. Kline's interpretation. That, in concert with Cliff's Notes, made all the difference.

Cliff Weber
Oregon

Readers, please note: The two people who gave this negative reviews thought that The Inferno was written in Latin. It wasn't. Clearly, they read neither the Cliff's Note nor the book. Silly to write a review of a book that you know nothing about!

It is very compact. It contains everything you need to know. If you are in a hurry to complete your report, this is the very one.

Well, it's odd to write a review for a set of Cliff Notes, but I'll make an exception in this case. People often equate buying Cliff Notes with kids who have to read a book and want to actually get OUT of reading the book. However, I bought Dante's Divine Comedy: The Inferno for leisure reading (actually I like the theological implications that Dante ponders in the writing of his poem) and the Cliff Notes have become quite useful. The Notes start out with a general background of Dante, giving a mini biography of the author. Throughout this sketch they allude to a number of instances in his life which will come into play in his work The Divine Comedy. They then go on with an overall synposis of The Inferno. After that they go into a full-out commentary on the work itself.

I picked up the Cliff Notes at the same time I bought my copy of The Divine Comedy. Why? Well, I didn't want to miss a thing. I read for fun, but I also try with the books I truly enjoy, to read critically. Knowing that the copy of The Inferno was actually a translation from the latin meant that since I cannot read latin, that there would be certain nuances of the language that I may miss out on when reading it in english. Hence, I am relying on the Cliff Notes (which I read AFTER I finish a particular section) to point out these instances to me. I can then go back and re-read the section and gain the deeper insight into the poem itself. Used as a supplement (not as the source itself, which unfortunately happens with many users of Cliff Notes) this has proven to be a nice tool. It is by no means absolutely necessary (my copy of The Inferno comes with its own commentary... I have the Bantam issue of Dante's Divine Comedy) but it is nice to have on hand when there are sections that are a bit 'heavy'. I will not go into the book itself here in this review, since this is the Cliff Notes, but instead I'll tackle that in a review of the book itself. Overall, I think the Cliff Notes are a nice addition, something to have next to the armchair when reading the actual book. The only downside... the Cliff Notes cost almost as much ($4.95) as the book itself ($5.95).

Great help but to much opinion. (lol) Let's just say I read this more than I read the book due to time restraints. This cliff's notes does help and I would recommend to anyone that is having problems understanding Dante's Inferno (a great book also!)

I have taken numerous college level and graduate level course on Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso and I find this Cliff notes version of the Inferno to be absolutely horrible.
The author presents a shallow and narrow minded reading of what is one of the greatest and most influential books of all time.
This book robs the poetry, the mystery, the depth, and the beauty from a masterpiece.
The book provides somewhat accurate fact about the structure of the work but its interpretation is offensively shallow.
Do yourself a favor and read the actual poem along with helpful notes. This will allow you to taste the beauty of the poem and the commentary will open the poem up to you as a reader. There are many well-written and interesting introductions to the Inferno that are much much better than this book.
You don't even need to buy anything. There are many resources available for free online. The Princeton Dante Project is a good example.

If you go through life thinking that you understand Dante because you have read this Cliff note, I pity you. You are a shallow minded twit. And so is the author.

the battery was missing for the camera and the camera and the recharger was there what at will thesereve??

An awesome book that tells about Dante's trip through Hell, with a very famous guide named Virgil. Not exactly docternal, but good imagination. He incorperates many of the people he knew, or who were famous then into the story. It makes you want to learn Latin so you can read it without translation.