The Divine Comedy - by Dante Alighieri (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In Purgatorio Dante, having described his journey into Hell, narrates his ascent of Mount Purgatory with Virgil, as he encounters penitents who toil through physical agonies, starvation and flames to assuage their earthly vices. Only by learning from them can he achieve his final enlightened transition to the lost Earthly Paradise at the mountain's summit, where he meets his dead love, Beatrice, and prepares to ascend to Heaven. Depicting a realm of intense sensation and physical experience, Dante's poem transformed the traditional Christian idea of Purgatory by showing how the free will of the aspiring soul could change wordly perversions into perfection. It is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human possibility, hope and redemption.

Review Quotes

"A masterly translation." ―Judith Thurman, The New Yorker

"Kirkpatrick brings a more nuanced sense of the Italian and a more mediated appreciation of the poem's construction than nearly all of his competitors." --The Times (London)

"We gain much from Kirkpatrick's fidelity to syntax and nuance. . . . His introduction . . . tells you, very readable indeed, pretty much all you need for a heightened appreciation of the work."
--The Guardian

"Likely to be the best modern version of Dante . . . The perfect balance of tightness and colloquialism." --Bernard O'Donoghue

"This version is the first to bring together poetry and scholarship in the very body of the translation--a deeply informed version of Dante that is also a pleasure to read." --David Wallace, University of Pennsylvania

About the Author

Dante Alighieri was born in 1265. Considered Italy's greatest poet, this scion of a Florentine family mastered in the art of lyric poetry at an early age. His first major work is La Vita Nuova (1292) which is a tribute to Beatrice Portinari, the great love of his life. Married to Gemma Donatic, Dante's political activism resulted in his being exiled from Florence to eventually settle in Ravenna. It is believed that The Divine Comedy--comprised of three canticles, The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso--was written between 1308 and 1320. Dante Alighieri died in 1321.

Robin Kirkpatrick is a widely published Dante scholar. He is fellow of Robinson College and professor of Italian and English literature at Cambridge University.