Name: The Divine Comedy
Author: Contino, Paul J.
ISBN: 9780810126725

The Divine Comedy

by Dante Alighieri
translated by Burton Raffel
introduction by Paul J. Contino

Northwestern University Press, 2010
Cloth: 978-0-8101-2672-5
Library of Congress Classification PQ4315.R28 2010
Dewey Decimal Classification 851.1

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

ABOUT THIS BOOK

At the midpoint of his life, during Holy Week in 1300, Dante awakes to himself in the middle of a forest so dark that the sun’s light cannot penetrate its gloom. of the wildness and brutality of the woods, Dante cries out for help, and thus begins one of Western literature’s greatest epic journeys.

The Divine Comedy follows Dante the pilgrim—guided by the great Roman poet Virgil, then by the love of his life, Beatrice—as he travels downward through Hell, then upward through Purgatory in order to reach Paradise and witness the love that moves the sun and the stars. Raffel’s translation vividly captures the divine contrapasso, the ultimate case of the punishment the crime, in the Inferno, while fathoming the complexity of the Purgatorio and the ecstasy of the Paradiso.

One of the world’s greatest works of literature, Dante’s Commedia revolutionized poetry and the Italian language. This epic poem was the to be written in the vernacular of the Italian people rather than in Latin. In it, Dante weaves the best of classical literature from Virgil, Statius, Aristotle, and Ovid with staples from the Christian tradition (including the Scriptures, Augustine, and Aquinas), into a colorful medieval tapestry that depicts at once the vividly checkered history of church and empire.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

DANTE ALIGHIERI (1265–1321) was born in Florence to a prominent family and trained as a pharmacist. He fought in the Battle of Campaldino and was active in the internecine Florentine politics of the time, which resulted in his exile. During this time, he began writing Commedia, which he finished shortly before his death in Ravenna.

BURTON RAFFEL is a teacher and a poet as well as the acclaimed translator of Chaucer, Cervantes, Rabelais, and Stendahl. His translation of Beowulf has sold over a million copies. Raffel is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Arts and Humanities and emeritus professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

PAUL J. CONTINO is the Professor of Great Books at Pepperdine University in California.

HENRY L. CARRIGAN JR. is the assistant director and senior editor at Northwestern University Press. He is the editor of works by Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Catherine of Siena, among other Christian classics. He reviews books for national newspapers and literary magazines and taught Dante’s Commedia for fourteen years at Otterbein College in Ohio.

REVIEWS

"Raffel's uncanny skill has captured Dante the poet and brought his world, his vision to life. This poem for the ages comes to us when we most need it, and ti comes to us as a living, breathing force of nature. The accomplishment is as breathtaking to contemplate as it is pleasurable to read. This is our time's Divine Comedy." —Michael Hettich, author of Flock and Shadow: New and Selected Poems

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"Burton Raffel's translation is both accurate and poetic, letting the English reader experience Dante's journey as never before. It is no less than magic—an act of sheer necromancy, bringing Dante back from the dead." —Tita French Baumlin, Missouri State University

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Translator’s Note

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Pilgrim’s Path to Freedom

The Divine Comedy

Part One/ Inferno

Canto One

Canto Two

Canto Three

Canto Four

Canto Five

Canto Six

Canto Seven

Canto Eight

Canto Nine

Canto Ten

Canto Eleven

Canto Twelve

Canto Thirteen

Canto Fourteen

Canto Fifteen

Canto Sixteen

Canto Seventeen

Canto Eighteen

Canto Nineteen

Canto Twenty

Canto Twenty-one

Canto Twenty-two

Canto Twenty-three

Canto Twenty-four

Canto Twenty-five

Canto Twenty-six

Canto Twenty-seven

Canto Twenty-eight

Canto Twenty-nine

Canto Thirty

Canto Thirty-one

Canto Thirty-two

Canto Thirty-three

Canto Thirty-four

Part Two/ Purgatorio

Canto One

Canto Two

Canto Three

Canto Four

Canto Five

Canto Six

Canto Seven

Canto Eight

Canto Nine

Canto Ten

Canto Eleven

Canto Twelve

Canto Thirteen

Canto Fourteen

Canto Fifteen

Canto Sixteen

Canto Seventeen

Canto Eighteen

Canto Nineteen

Canto Twenty

Canto Twenty-one

Canto Twenty-two

Canto Twenty-three

Canto Twenty-four

Canto Twenty-five

Canto Twenty-six

Canto Twenty-seven

Canto Twenty-eight

Canto Twenty-nine

Canto Thirty

Canto Thirty-one

Canto Thirty-two

Canto Thirty-three

Part Three/ Paradiso

Canto One

Canto Two

Canto Three

Canto Four

Canto Five

Canto Six

Canto Seven

Canto Eight

Canto Nine

Canto Ten

Canto Eleven

Canto Twelve

Canto Thirteen

Canto Fourteen

Canto Fifteen

Canto Sixteen

Canto Seventeen

Canto Eighteen

Canto Nineteen

Canto Twenty

Canto Twenty-one

Canto Twenty-two

Canto Twenty-three

Canto Twenty-four

Canto Twenty-five

Canto Twenty-six

Canto Twenty-seven

Canto Twenty-eight

Canto Twenty-nine

Canto Thirty

Canto Thirty-one

Canto Thirty-two

Canto Thirty-three

Notes

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