The Portable Dante (Penguin Classics) by Dante

by Dante Alighieri

Genres: Classics

Unknown Binding

Published July 29, 2003

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

[Eli]

This is the entire Divine comedy so I’m going to rate them separately. Read the whole thing in 20 days for a class. I would love to go back through at a much slower pace.

Inferno: 4 stars. Very dark and interesting. Awesome poetry.

Purgatory* : 3 stars. Also interesting, great poetry.

Paradise: 3 stars. Great poetry. Half really cool half really trippy.

Overall, Dante is a master poet. Fantastic symbolism but a lot of stuff that’s over my head. (Hence wanting to read again at a slower pace.) All that aside this is one of the greatest poems of all time.

*disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Bad theology will be overlooked.

[Caleb Burdine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Musa's translation of the Divine Comedy is my personal favorite. A nice blend of readability and poetic beauty. Also nice to have the entire Divine Comedy and Vita Nuova in the same work alongside a very helpful introduction.

[Jeffrey Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cool. Just wish I was more aware of all the cultural references he makes constantly. Awesome descriptions of paradise.

[Kaden Luther · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

Dante was ahead of his time, so much so that I think this component is what has vastly compensated for its quality. Firstly, my praises, because I still have quite a few; Dante was immensely creative. His visual depiction of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven are absolutely wonderful. The notion of levels and using physical, uniform shapes (for example a large tower for Purgatory that relates to its function as a theological object and Hell as a progressively worsening pit) are still enduring cultural monuments for a reason. Heaven is a far more metaphysical representation, as Dante depicts it as unable to be described in words, which works, but ultimately makes the final part a trudge for most readers. I still enjoyed the philosophical aspects of the Paradiso. Personally, I believe the strongest to be Purgatorio, as both its metaphysical aspects and the concept of the tower as compared to the pit are far superior to the Inferno in my opinion. There are plenty of beautiful verses, and plenty that also appear mediocre. As follows are most of my criticisms.

It is a frequently shared joke that the Divine Comedy is a fanfiction, which, thinking by today’s standards, it is; the Inferno shows this. I wish I were kidding, but honestly, the Inferno reads like a modern fanfiction but with older language. Dante portrays these souls in a demeaning manner with little to no humanization. I’ve heard that these are meant to be relatable, but I fail to see the appeal when they are thusly described as morally inferior to the narrator and his philosophy. I find it funny that he threw in personal detractors, similarly to how Voltaire does in his works, but Voltaire was a satirist, and certainly didn’t go as far as to depict them being in hell and marginally less righteous than he. It’s also a little bizarre, when you think about it, that Beatrice didn’t even really like Dante and was married to a rich banker. Dante was kind of a creep. But, the context is mostly irrelevant to the text itself, so this is more of a personal note I find amusing. When translated to modern English (or simply with the proper knowledge of the language to understand that which Dante is saying) the Inferno is simply what I said earlier; inventive. The narrative itself is paced so bizarrely and ends where it shouldn’t, which I believe is probably just a result of the imposed 34 Canto formula. The Purgatorio was slightly more interesting, more personal to Dante, and more thoughtful, but the narrative was much, much simpler. In each part, Dante shows inconsistency, and rather than portraying it as a development of the entire story of the pilgrim, he neglects other aspects to progress the philosophical ideas he wants to present, which works as he progresses and reaches enlightenment, but does not rationalize the loss of a cohesive narrative.

Overall, it is a classic for a reason, that being that it was innovative, however I cannot say that it has aged as a narrative quite as well as many people would like. I respect the piece plenty, but I was ultimately disappointed, and think it is deserving of quite a few critiques.

[Kelsi Gillies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going down as one of my favorite classics ever, and I say this as an atheist hahaha. This story was breathtaking, epic, funny, heartbreaking, creative, and so incredibly detailed.

I’ll be honest, I’ve been wanting to read the entirety of The Divine Comedy for a while, but it’s always intimidated me. Something as big and as acclaimed as this story made me surmise that reading it would be a bit of a struggle. But I was surprised by how accessible the text was. So if you’re debating about giving this one a try, absolutely do it!!

[Sophia LaPointe · Rating 4 out of 5]

i actually loved this so much i wish i could read it more in depth cause it was so interesting

[Cameron Barham]

“You have only yourself to blame for burdening
your mind with misconceptions that prevent
from seeing clearly what you might have seen.”,
p. 394

[Alicia]

Am I scholar yet??

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally, not an easy read book to start with but personally has become one of my most beloved books. The Portable Dante, without too many spoilers, is basically the walkthrough of Dante (the author) traveling his way through the 9 layers of hell with his guide, Virgil. Throughout his journey, he comes across the different types of suffering and the overall vibe of the book dramatic but poetic. The author mentions a lot of biblical and Greek mythology references so be at the lookout of that. Overall I would definitely recommend if you’re interested about Italy Florence history or into philosophy books but maybe not the best recommendation for beginners.



-also wanted to mention that I had to read this book for my English class and absolutely enjoyed it

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

like lowkey was entertaining