The Divine Comedy

by Dante Alighieri, Charles S. Singleton (translator), Simone Marchesi (introduction)

424 pages, Hardcover

Published November 5, 2024

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

[Bailee Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m on a mission to make classics cool again and pitch them in a way the girlies understand. Here goes…

This is basically Dante’s self-insert bible fanfiction. He’s created a situation where (because he is so very special) he gets to explore various levels of the afterlife and get a heads up on the soul’s journey before he has even died. On this journey, he’s joined by his poetry man crush (Virgil) and his dead girlfriend (Beatrice). Because who of us hasn’t used literature to imagine ourselves with celebrities or former romantic flames? Dante may be the OG fanfic.net/ao3 user.

Dante uses this journey for many symbolic purposes, but primarily to have cameos from friends, politicians, historical figures, etc & speculate on where they’ve ended up after death. Also to brag about Italy and dunk on the current pope, who he believes is going to be the downfall of Catholicism. Hate to break it to you dude, but that pope didn’t even scratch the surface of reasons why people broke from the Catholic Church.

In summation, Dante thinks he is very special. He has a bit of a crush/obsession on both Beatrice and Virgil. He hates the Greeks. Basically everything is symbolism for something in Christianity.

TLDR: Do I think everyone should read this? No, it’s veryyyyy dense. But I think everyone should watch a recap video or something to understand a lot of famous literary tropes that become established here.

[Robert Bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second time I have read the Divine Comedy and I agree with those who say it takes at least two or three readings to "get hooked" on it. This is not easy to read with its allusions, metaphors, and historical references. After finally grasping what was being said, I needed additional help to understand what was meant.

One needs a guide to journey through the Comedia. There are many helps on internet, but I found Tom LA Books' YouTube commentary best matched my need and my own spiritual approach. With help from Tom LA Books and at least one more reading of this spiritual classic, I could fall in love with it. At this point I am grateful to have read it and illuminated by its depth.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

arguably the hardest book ive ever read