About this title: "The Divine Comedy" is the story of a pilgrim's journey to God. A man named Dante is lost in dark wood; through the intervention of his beloved Beatrice in Heaven, the Roman poet Virgil appears in the forest to lead Dante to her. In order to reach heaven, however, they must first pass through Hell and Purgatory. After journeying through Hell (Inferno), they climb the mountain of Purgatory (Purgatorio); at the peak, Dante is reunited with Beatrice, who serves as his guide through Paradise (Paradisio).
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780140444414ISBN:0140444416
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Text unmarked, only a little tanned. Spine creases. Book bent, cover edge/corner wear. Ship daily (carefully wrapped + free domestic dc). Text in English, Italian. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 432 p. Penguin Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Acceptable. Book shows wear to cover edges and spine. Writing on outside edge of pages. Highlighting in book. Spine has creases. Cover has heavy wear. Corners bent/rounded. Cover may have folds or creases. Otherwise in good reading condition. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780140444414ISBN:0140444416
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Text in English, Italian. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 432 p. Penguin Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780140444414ISBN:0140444416
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Light edge wear to soft cover. Light page tanning form age. Text in English, Italian. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 432 p. Penguin Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1984-02-07
ISBN-13:9780140444414ISBN:0140444416
Description: Good. Binding is tight and square. Has some minor underlining. Has some light edge and corner wear. Careful packaging and fast shipping. We recommend EXPEDITED MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: 1984
ISBN-13:9780140444414ISBN:0140444416
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Text in English, Italian. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 432 p. Penguin Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: New. Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas. GREAT BUY. Brand New From US Distributor. WE ARE A 5 STAR SELLER with OVER 3, 500, 000 BOOKS SOLD. read more
Edition: Revised ed.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1979
ISBN-13:9780195004120ISBN:0195004124
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Binding vg. Small rip to cover at base of spine. Pages clean. Text in English, Italian. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 432 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Excellent
Publisher: Penguin Book, NY
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780142437223ISBN:0142437220
Description: Excellent. No Jacket. Softcover Brand new book in excellent condition. Translated with an Introduction, notes, and commentary by Mark Musa. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9780142437223ISBN:0142437220
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"Dante's Inferno. One of my favorite favorite favorite books. I confess I've never read the entire Divine Comedy, but Volume 1, The Inferno, is in my opinion one of the greatest works ever written. I own two different translations of this, because since it is a translation, each english version will be slightly different. One of my books even contains a hand-dandy map of hell. Each circle of hell on the map is labeled with what you'll find there. It's a nice reference to have while reading this. I think most people have read this, but if you haven't, here's the basic idea: Dante gets to travel through all circles of hell as a tourist. His tour guide is the poet Virgil. The poem (Yes, it is a poem, although the english translation generally reads more like prose) details the sights Dante witnesses while visiting hell, as well as the people he sees in hell. Even though this was written in the 1300's, you'll still recognize the names of some of the celebrities he sees in hell. One note - since this was written so long ago, I highly recommend getting a version with footnotes. The explanations will help you understand some of the themes which are no longer common in today's writing. If you haven't read this, what is wrong with you???? Set aside several weeks of free time so you can read this!"
"This classic tale, told in poetry, of man's descent into hell is exceptional. But I have to give an extra half star for this translation and notes (Penguin Classics). The explanations given were fantastic and really enhanced my reading experience (which one expects but rarely receives from footnotes and translation).
What I really appreciate from this story is not just the story itself, but the work that Dante put into it. How he combined fact (the political temperature of 14th century Florence) with myth and legend. And while he uses his works to upbraid the corruption and deceit of both the Church and government, it doesn't get bogged down in idealized theology.
It is also the structure of the story itself that is impressive. He connects each canto, one to the next, through story, allegory, and use of myths. For example, in Canto 32, the pilgrim sees Mordred, the nephew who tried to kill King Arthur. This linked the reference first made in Canto 5, where Francesca claimed the Old French romance Lancelot du Lac is what led her astray with Paolo.
The imagery is also used in Canto 24, where he uses an elaborate simile describing Virgil's anger and then returned composure (after being deceived by the Malebranche in the previous canto). The simile, however, doesn't just describe Virgil's emotional change, but also represents the physical journey that the pilgrim must make up the rocky slope, with the shepherd (Virgil) urging him upwards. It is with complicated skill that he pulls this off so effectively, all the while, keeping the poetic beauty of the simile itself.
This is not a "fun" read, but if you have the time, I strongly recommend you read this. You won't be disappointed, especially if you pick up this translation."
"Another week, another masterwork I'm ashamed to admit I haven't read sooner.
Dante's Inferno is a lot of different things: It's the text that legitimized Italian as a worthy literary language. It's a piece of proselytizing propaganda that intended to terrify the masses into good Catholic living. It's the supreme dystopic vision -- a map and story of proper Hell that makes those Hell-On-Earth books like 1984 and The Road look like bedtime stories.
And it is an absolutely required read.
In the class for which I read it, we blew through the Inferno in two lectures -- about three hours in total. This feels like a bit of a disservice because the text is so layered, stylistically and thematically, and it's replete with references to then-current Italians who are not, in 2009, household names the way Judas, Brutus, Mordred, Tiresias, Socrates, and other historical sinners are. Then again, ... Dante himself travels through all of Hell, from the gate to the court of Satan himself, in about that same amount of time. He returns to the real world after serious sensual overexposure, and that's about how I feel, too.
I'd love to think more about Dante's ordering of sins -- sodomy as worse than genocide? what! -- and I am especially tempted to place some newer names in their appropriate circles. But that, I suppose, is Dante's point."
"Having wanted to read Inferno for a long time, I was glad to find Dorothy Sayers' translation since I value her own writing. I'm no scholar, so I can't compare this critically to the numerous other translations available. I just come looking to enjoy reading and understanding great classic literature on occasion. It takes a great deal of background information to appreciate this work. The Divine Comedy can be examined from many different angles: Poetry, allegory, theology, a spiritual journey, a love story. Sayers' introduction and notes, and the diagrams and drawings in this book were a great help to me. Some may argue that the scholarship is a bit dated, but Sayers clearly loved The Divine Comedy and wanted her readers to appreciate it also. The result of her work was a very interesting reading experience for me, better than I expected. I particularly enjoyed the insights she incorporated into the notes from Charles Williams' book, The Figure of Beatrice. (Sayers dedicated her translation of The Divine Comedy to Williams.) The verse might make it a little more difficult to get the meaning until you get used to it, but I think it's worth the effort. Once I found a good reading pace, I didn't find the rhyming forced as some readers have. (It might seem that way if you look for it.) It must be a difficult thing to try to give readers of English the same experience that Dante's Italian readers had and I think that was Dorothy Sayers' goal. She got me interested enough to take seriously her claim that readers of Dante are cheating themselves if they stop after Inferno. On through Purgatory to Paradise ... It must only get better from here."
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