The Divine Comedy (Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions) by Dante Alighieri (26-Feb-2013) Paperback

by Dante Alighieri

Genres: Classics

Unknown Binding

About the author

Dante Alighieri, or simply Dante (May 14/June 13 1265 – September 13/14, 1321), is one of the greatest poets in the Italian language; with the story-teller, Boccaccio, and the poet, Petrarch, he forms the classic trio of Italian authors. Dante Alighieri was born in the city-state Florence in 1265. He first saw the woman, or rather the child, who was to become the poetic love of his life when he was almost nine years old and she was some months younger. In fact, Beatrice married another man, Simone di' Bardi, and died when Dante was 25, so their relationship existed almost entirely in Dante's imagination, but she nonetheless plays an extremely important role in his poetry. Dante attributed all the heavenly virtues to her soul and imagined, in his masterpiece The Divine Comedy, that she was his guardian angel who alternately berated and encouraged him on his search for salvation.

Politics as well as love deeply influenced Dante's literary and emotional life. Renaissance Florence was a thriving, but not a peaceful city: different opposing factions continually struggled for dominance there. The Guelfs and the Ghibellines were the two major factions, and in fact that division was important in all of Italy and other countries as well. The Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor were political rivals for much of this time period, and in general the Guelfs were in favor of the Pope, while the Ghibellines supported Imperial power. By 1289 in the battle of Campaldino the Ghibellines largely disappeared from Florence. Peace, however, did not insue. Instead, the Guelf party divided between the Whites and the Blacks (Dante was a White Guelf). The Whites were more opposed to Papal power than the Blacks, and tended to favor the emperor, so in fact the preoccupations of the White Guelfs were much like those of the defeated Ghibellines. In this divisive atmosphere Dante rose to a position of leadership. in 1302, while he was in Rome on a diplomatic mission to the Pope, the Blacks in Florence seized power with the help of the French (and pro-Pope) Charles of Valois. The Blacks exiled Dante, confiscating his goods and condemning him to be burned if he should return to Florence.

Dante never returned to Florence. He wandered from city to city, depending on noble patrons there. Between 1302 and 1304 some attempts were made by the exiled Whites to retrieve their position in Florence, but none of these succeeded and Dante contented himself with hoping for the appearance of a new powerful Holy Roman Emperor who would unite the country and banish strife. Henry VII was elected Emperor in 1308, and indeed laid seige to Florence in 1312, but was defeated, and he died a year later, destroying Dante's hopes. Dante passed from court to court, writing passionate political and moral epistles and finishing his Divine Comedy, which contains the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. He finally died in Ravenna in 1321.

Reviews

[Greg Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This poetic work by Dante is considered to be one of the greatest works in Western literature. Composed in the 14th century, it describes an experience where Dante travelled through hell (Inferno), then ascended into purgatory (Purgatorio), and finally reached heaven (Paradiso). Treated as an allegory, it describes a conversion experience where a person recognizes and rejects the sin in the world and their life (Inferno), becomes a Christian and lives a Christian life (Purgatorio), and finally ascends to heaven (Paradiso).

My only exposure to this poem was probably reading excerpts from the Inferno portion of this poem in high school. The description of hell in Inferno is probably the most well known part of this, but it was meant to be read as a complete work. So that is what I endeavored to do. I read the whole work over the course of a week without reading the introduction or any notes associated with the text. And that was a good thing because I would never have gotten through it if I was constantly referring to the notes as I read. After I powered through it, then I read the fine introduction found in this edition.

For me, the difficulty had to do with all the references to Italian people and politics from the 14th century. It also contains references to medieval philosophy and theology. Dante's notion of heaven and hell at times seemed overly precise for something we only get glimpses of in the Bible. But I suppose this should be expected for someone like Dante who had a strong faith in reason as a method to figure these things out.

I think this is an impressive literary work with an interesting theological bent. But I personally give it 3 stars because I had to force my way through it. I'm glad I took the speed reading approach to start with because I now have an overall idea of what the poem is about. In the future, when the time is right, I might try to read this again, more slowly, paying attention to the notes, to give me a better understanding of the ideas that Dante is trying to express.

FWIW, I think this particular edition is a good one. I found the introduction to be pretty good and the translation was pretty readable. YMMV

[Mike Gonzalez]

23

[Rebecca]

I DNFed this book. I really did try to read it, but life is too short for boring books.

[Shruti Zunje · Rating 3 out of 5]

Final Year research paper project. Roasted the hell out of Dante but mildly interesting (aside from Dante)

[alyssa paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

eye popping-ly long.