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The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy has, despite its enormous popularity and importance, often stymied readers with its multitudinous characters, references, and themes. But until the publication in 2007 of Guy Raffa’s guide to the Inferno, students lacked a suitable resource to help them navigate Dante’s underworld. With this new guide to the entire Divine Comedy, Raffa provides readers—experts in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Dante neophytes, and everyone in between—with a map of the entire poem, from the lowest circle of Hell to the highest sphere of Paradise.
Based on Raffa’s original research and his many years of teaching the poem to undergraduates, The CompleteDanteworlds charts a simultaneously geographical and textual journey, canto by canto, region by region, adhering closely to the path taken by Dante himself through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. This invaluable reference also features study questions, illustrations of the realms, and regional summaries. Interpreting Dante’s poem and his sources, Raffa fashions detailed entries on each character encountered as well as on many significant historical, religious, and cultural allusions.
Based on Raffa’s original research and his many years of teaching the poem to undergraduates, The CompleteDanteworlds charts a simultaneously geographical and textual journey, canto by canto, region by region, adhering closely to the path taken by Dante himself through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. This invaluable reference also features study questions, illustrations of the realms, and regional summaries. Interpreting Dante’s poem and his sources, Raffa fashions detailed entries on each character encountered as well as on many significant historical, religious, and cultural allusions.
391 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 16, 2016
This has been an excellent companion during my read of Dante’s Commedia.
It has been my Virgil, my Beatrice, and my Saint Bernard. It has held me by the hand as I proceeded, together with the Dante group, to read a Canto-a-Day, or 100 days (1+33+33+33). It was a parallel read.
Most Dante editions come loaded with footnotes and these, though necessary, make the reading somewhat cumbersome. One has to interrupt one’s walking pace continually.
Guy P. Raffa is a Professor at the University of Texas in Austin. In parallel to the book there is the website (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu) which I however have not used. I believe other people in the group did.
The book is organized in thee large sections, corresponding to the three books of the Commedia (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso). But within these there are many smaller Units covering between 2- 5 Cantos each. The Units then have various Segments. The first deals with the overall theme of the grouping, which helps tremendously. It is followed by “Encounters” which gives us the background to the many personalities that Dante encounters in his pilgrimage. These can be his contemporaries, in the very complex political world of the Mediterranean world, as well as mythological and Christian figures from earlier times. As most of these characters do not belong to our culture, this information is very welcome.
Raffa’s text also includes cross-references since some of the personalities are encountered more than once. Then “Allusions” follows; giving background to any other aspect that is not a personage. And finally there is a collection of selected quotes or “Significant Verses” and a few “Study Questions”. I did not pay too much attention to these last two.
Although a fair amount of the information provided by Raffa may be found also in the footnotes of any edition, here they are more tightly put together.
My method was to read a Section before proceeding with the corresponding part in Dante’s work.
It helped tremendously. Otherwise I would not be looking forward to reading my very last two chapters of Commedia tomorrow...
Thanks to Raffa I will reach the ultimate Light.
October 30, 2018
Although I liked Guy Raffa's book and found it helpful, I have mixed feelings about recommending it. Those who will find it of the most help are those who do not have notes included with their version of The Divine Comedy (something all the public domain editions lack, so far that I've seen), or only cursory notes. I've heard on good authority that the Ciardi and Hollander translations both have copious notes to go with the text (though I haven't seen them myself), so in those cases, Raffa's book may be superfluous.
Another reason I'm on the fence about it is because I felt that in the end, it was still rather superficial. Perhaps to be the kind of book I was hoping that it would be, it would have been twice as long; still, Raffa's book is a handy summation of the events and the allusions, but not much on critical insights.
Over the course of reading The Divine Comedy, I used several translations and three different fre(e)-books downloaded for kindle. The first, a translation by James Sibbald in 1884 (The Inferno) had a good enough set of notes when I double-checked The Complete Danteworlds, I felt it was redundent. For Purgatorio, I found a translation on Google books by Thomas Okey, and while it had decent notes as well, I found Danteworlds to be of more help. The last, a translation of all three books by Rev. H. F. Cary, had no notes whatsoever, but it was here, where I had to rely a great deal on Raffa's book that I thought it showed some of its problems.
First, I thought the layout and organization of the book could have been better. Danteworlds is set up so that each section of Hell, Purgatory or Paradise recieves a chapter, no matter how many cantos it takes to move from one stage to the next. Each chapter is then split into five parts: a summary, a list of encounters, a list of allusions, significant verses and study questions. As a teacher, Mr. Raffa probably felt this had worked well for him in the classroom, but for the independent reader, it causes a lot of shuffling back and forth--in the Encounters section, for instance, the author might have a paragraph for canto A, then one for Canto B, and then Canto C. But when the reader turns the page and gets to the Allusion section, the author returns to Canto A, then B, then C. If one were to read through an entire section of The Comedy (The Fifth Circle of Hell, for instance, or the Third Terrace of Purgatory), and then turn to Mr. Raffa's book, it might be possible to read straight through his chapter and everything would make sense. But if a reader only read one canto at a time, and tried to digest that before moving on, the layout of Danteworlds forces him to flip back and forth. For this reader, at least, I would have much preferred that each canto was treated completely before addressing the next. Also, for me as well, the study questions and the significant verses were of little interest.
There were also times when I still had to make use of online resources to hunt down a particular reference that was missed in Danteworlds--this was very rare though. And, given the fact that there is a ton of references in The Divine Comedy to classical literature and mythology, as well as the current (to Dante) situation in Italy, I don't suppose I should be too surprised that it just wasn't possible to stuff them all into one study guide.
I'm afraid I've made it sound as though I didn't like the book--that would be wrong...I'm glad I had it and I think it helped. But I'm not sure that it would make much of a supplement if the edition of Dante you already have has its own notes.
Another reason I'm on the fence about it is because I felt that in the end, it was still rather superficial. Perhaps to be the kind of book I was hoping that it would be, it would have been twice as long; still, Raffa's book is a handy summation of the events and the allusions, but not much on critical insights.
Over the course of reading The Divine Comedy, I used several translations and three different fre(e)-books downloaded for kindle. The first, a translation by James Sibbald in 1884 (The Inferno) had a good enough set of notes when I double-checked The Complete Danteworlds, I felt it was redundent. For Purgatorio, I found a translation on Google books by Thomas Okey, and while it had decent notes as well, I found Danteworlds to be of more help. The last, a translation of all three books by Rev. H. F. Cary, had no notes whatsoever, but it was here, where I had to rely a great deal on Raffa's book that I thought it showed some of its problems.
First, I thought the layout and organization of the book could have been better. Danteworlds is set up so that each section of Hell, Purgatory or Paradise recieves a chapter, no matter how many cantos it takes to move from one stage to the next. Each chapter is then split into five parts: a summary, a list of encounters, a list of allusions, significant verses and study questions. As a teacher, Mr. Raffa probably felt this had worked well for him in the classroom, but for the independent reader, it causes a lot of shuffling back and forth--in the Encounters section, for instance, the author might have a paragraph for canto A, then one for Canto B, and then Canto C. But when the reader turns the page and gets to the Allusion section, the author returns to Canto A, then B, then C. If one were to read through an entire section of The Comedy (The Fifth Circle of Hell, for instance, or the Third Terrace of Purgatory), and then turn to Mr. Raffa's book, it might be possible to read straight through his chapter and everything would make sense. But if a reader only read one canto at a time, and tried to digest that before moving on, the layout of Danteworlds forces him to flip back and forth. For this reader, at least, I would have much preferred that each canto was treated completely before addressing the next. Also, for me as well, the study questions and the significant verses were of little interest.
There were also times when I still had to make use of online resources to hunt down a particular reference that was missed in Danteworlds--this was very rare though. And, given the fact that there is a ton of references in The Divine Comedy to classical literature and mythology, as well as the current (to Dante) situation in Italy, I don't suppose I should be too surprised that it just wasn't possible to stuff them all into one study guide.
I'm afraid I've made it sound as though I didn't like the book--that would be wrong...I'm glad I had it and I think it helped. But I'm not sure that it would make much of a supplement if the edition of Dante you already have has its own notes.
November 4, 2020
This is one of the most comprehensive guidebooks that I have read about Comedia. It includes topics that most other studies do not address. At first I wanted to give it a 4 star rating because of its writing style, but the sheer scope of this book deserves a 5.
March 28, 2014
This is a solid companion for the Divine Comedy. I wouldn't recommend reading it independently of TDC, but rather alongside it. TDC is simply too dense - and the details in Danteworlds to specific - to be of much benefit unless you have the text fresh in your mind while reading this. Each section in Danteworlds begins with a summary of the Circle, Terrace or Sphere in question followed by notes and comments. My recommendation would be to read the Danteworlds summary first, followed by the Cantos in TDC that were just summarized and then return to Danteworlds for the additional notes.
It should be noted that if you're reading an annotated edition of Dante (which you absolutely should be. The text is simply too difficult for most of us to attempt without some academic aid), a fair amount of the material in Danteworlds is likely going to overlap with the notes in your annotated edition. Because of that, I wouldn't consider this by any means a required companion for the Dante novice, but rather a source of additional information if you want to dig a bit deeper than the annotations in your edition but don't want to embark on a full-blown, academic commentary.
It should be noted that if you're reading an annotated edition of Dante (which you absolutely should be. The text is simply too difficult for most of us to attempt without some academic aid), a fair amount of the material in Danteworlds is likely going to overlap with the notes in your annotated edition. Because of that, I wouldn't consider this by any means a required companion for the Dante novice, but rather a source of additional information if you want to dig a bit deeper than the annotations in your edition but don't want to embark on a full-blown, academic commentary.
April 24, 2020
Not enough time to read the complete "Divine Comedy" or need help in understanding the classic trilogy? "The Complete Danteworlds" is an invaluable resource for dissecting the characters, the relationships, the themes and more. Summaries by each canto, it breaks down each of the 3 books into easily comprehended sections enhancing the Dante reading experience. This is a must-read for everyone delving into Dante's "Divine Comedy".
November 26, 2024
Simply put, Dante Alighieri would be unreadable to a layperson like me without Danteworlds. Even when taking into account the comprehensive appendices that most editions of The Divine Comedy have these days, Raffa is able to break it down into more digestible — and frankly enjoyable — chunks. I had this guide glued to my side for each canticle and honestly, I am more likely to reread this in a half dozen years instead of reading the Comedy again.
May 3, 2018
Very helpfull
June 13, 2018
It was helpful on some level, but it didn't make me more excited to be reading the Divine Comedy.
August 8, 2019
很好的大众向导读，基本只有真·初学者最需要和最感兴趣的信息，同时向更深的探索开放。典故、史实梳理清楚，每章末尾的思考题非常有益。
May 30, 2021
Excellent guide to the Divine Comedy! I highly recommend reading it alongside Dante's The Divine Comedy!
April 15, 2016
Guy Raffa’s The Complete Danteworlds is an excellent entry text for coming to terms with the forbidding world of Medieval Florentine/Italian history and politics as well as an excellent book for explaining Dante’s Divine Comedy.
It appears to have been written with educators, high school teachers at least, in mind, for at the end of each chapter there are a list of study questions.
The writing is clear but occasionally condescending—there are several instance in which Mr. Raffa speaks down to the reader by offering information on biblical references that anyone with a passing acquaintance of Western intellectual history would have, or could easily look up. For this reason this book has lost one star in its rating. There may, of course, be those who miss these references but how could they be interested in Dante? Personal opinion, but, really, how can you be interested in the Divine Comedy without at least an intellectual interest in religion?
Excepting the above, mild, criticism this is an excellent work and a very good entry point for any reader interested in digging deeper into Dante than the text.
Rating 4 out of 5 stars
It appears to have been written with educators, high school teachers at least, in mind, for at the end of each chapter there are a list of study questions.
The writing is clear but occasionally condescending—there are several instance in which Mr. Raffa speaks down to the reader by offering information on biblical references that anyone with a passing acquaintance of Western intellectual history would have, or could easily look up. For this reason this book has lost one star in its rating. There may, of course, be those who miss these references but how could they be interested in Dante? Personal opinion, but, really, how can you be interested in the Divine Comedy without at least an intellectual interest in religion?
Excepting the above, mild, criticism this is an excellent work and a very good entry point for any reader interested in digging deeper into Dante than the text.
Rating 4 out of 5 stars
December 9, 2010
A fabulous companion while reading the Divine Comedy. It helps to reflect upon the work and the provides significant quotes, study questions and the definition of certain symbols. Certainly a must have if you are to take a course on Dante's Divine Comedy.
October 22, 2015
This is an excellent companion through Dante's Commedia. Translation that I used is really fantastic but I'm glad that I choose to read this book along with Commedia as it gives insight into the things you probably missed or didn't understand (and Commedia is full of those).
Recommended!
Recommended!
July 13, 2013
Great primer, study guide and review. This is proving key in my writing of my second novel, A THOUSAND CUTS.
July 9, 2015
A must have for anyone making their way through Dante's masterpiece.
July 24, 2017
Research book - this is the reader's guide I find myself constantly referring back to. I particularly like that the author groups by physical location rather than per canto.
January 23, 2016
Served well as a clarification of the Divine Comedy. Would not have understood may of the references without this.
December 4, 2016
A great reference for anyone reading the Divine Comedy who feels a little lost!
June 17, 2013
This book was so helpful. I don't think I could have plowed through the Divine Comedy without it!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews