Dante For Beginners

Writers & Readers Documentary Comic Book #81

by Joe Lee

Dante For Beginners takes the reader on a magical trip through Heaven and Hell. Well, this isn't exactly true.  After an introduction to Dante Alighieri and his background, the reader meets a sweet lass named Beatrice, the love of his life and the subject of many of his poems.  Then the reader explores other samples of Dante's works, such as the great feast, the Convivio. The reader is ultimately led through Dante's most famous and challenging masterpiece, the Commedia, also known as the Divine Comedy, with a canto by canto description of the entire text from Heaven to Hell. Characters, ideas and situations are described as they happen without the need to search through end notes or footnotes to understand the text. Dante For Beginners is a vacation through great Italian literature with history's greatest guide, Dante Alighieri.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Poetry

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 28, 1999

Reviews

[Daniel Chaikin · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Litsy review : "More Dante prep, easier reading this time. 🙂 (It‘s kind of like schmoop with illustrations)

These books are actually helpful to me, but not much more to add to that above.

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50. Dante for Beginners by Joe Lee
published: 2011
format: 180 page paperback. Not a graphic novel, but heavily illustrated
acquired: Library
read: Oct 12-14
time reading: 3 hr 46 min, 1.3 min/page
rating: 3

[Riku Sayuj · Rating 3 out of 5]

More fun than the cliff notes. Good Illustrations. Useful to read ahead a few cantos here, so that the reader can focus on the poem itself instead of worrying about teasing out the meaning. Recommended.

[Önder Kurt · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, I get it; having a comic relief here and there in an introductory book on a classical text may be a good thing. But trying to be funny in every sentence, the author neglects the main task: giving a good, concise introduction to a difficult text full of historical and theological references.,

Creating a Sitcom ambiance is not helping.

[Sal Leggio · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got it because I wanted to find out a little more about The Divine Comedy. I had only read the inferno. But I find that Lee's breezy irreverent style really doesn't lend itself to the material.

[Jonathan]

None

[James G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I totally enjoyed the writing in this book. It was a terrific introduction to Dante's life.