The Divine Comedy

Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso

De: Dante Alighieri, Stephen Wyatt

Narrado por: Blake Ritson, John Hurt, David Warner, Hattie Morahan, Full Cast

Blake Ritson, David Warner, Hattie Morahan and John Hurt star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Dante's epic poem.

Inferno: Thirty-five year old Dante finds himself in the middle of a dark wood, in extreme personal and spiritual crisis. Hope of rescue appears in the form of the venerable poet Virgil, now a shade himself, who offers to lead Dante on an odyssey through the afterlife, beginning in the terrifying depths of Hell.

Purgatorio: Dante is led up Mount Purgatory by his guide. They encounter numerous souls who have embarked on the same difficult journey - one that will eventually lead to their spiritual salvation.

Paradiso: Dante's journey comes to a glorious conclusion as he is led by Beatrice, through the spheres of Paradise and into the presence of God himself. As they ascend, they encounter a number of souls who have also achieved blessedness. Many years later, the older Dante reflects on the episodes from his life that have inspired his great poem.

©2014 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2014 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

A great introduction to The Divine Comedy

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a great way to get a gist of The Divine Comedy. It's beautifully narrated with different voices for different characters. When you add the sound effects and different cool effects you get a whole experience that really pulls you into the story. You don't think that the story is being told to you. Instead you feel like you are right there with Dante going through the same experiences that he is.

What did you like best about this story?

As it's The Divine Comedy, the story speaks for itself. What I liked the best was how you never knew what was going to happen but knew that it was going to affect you greatly. It feels real and you honestly fear for Dante's life even though you know that nothing bad is going to happen to him. This trilogy is very graphic and pulls on your emotions as it looks at major theological and philosophical questions. You never really get bored.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

It was a full cast which was great. You get that full on experience of living there. I loved that so much! It really honestly felt as if you were there because of that. Instead of one narrator doing different voices of characters. Even the older Dante is played by a different voice actor. I loved that older Dante was played by John Hurt but I didn't recognize who did the voice of the younger Dante. It has been stated that Dante was a symbol of the every man. So having it not be a recognizable actor, at least to me, added in its brilliance.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Experience the three realms of the afterlife like never before...in stunning 3D.

Any additional comments?

I do want to note that this is abridged from the source material. It's a dramatization and skips cantos. This can be annoying especially as there are cantos that I thought they would not skip. There was one spectacular action sequence from Infierno that they skipped that shocked me. It was one that should have been here. Even with that it's a great dramatization. This is a great thing to listen to if you want the main gist or read the whole comedy and want to hear it. I would certainly recommend this to anyone interested in The Divine Comedy.

Abridged, darn!

I chose this version by accident. Thought it was an unabridged version. I still enjoyed the listening considering the bits left out. If you want a quick listen I’d recommend this abridged version as the performance of the readers did well.

Dramatic highlights of the poem

Thank heavens for this dramatic, abridged version of Dante’s masterpiece. For me, a novice reader of Dante, it was a struggle trudging through Hell & Purgatory with an unabridged translation so I comprehended little. Switching to this version & a Guidebook I “experienced” Dante’s journey with deeper understanding that lingers in my mind all day. I’m now ready to take off the training wheels & read the unabridged translation once again. THIS IS WELL DONE PRODUCTION!

Great synopsis of this classical text.

The dramatized reading and music is excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I highly recommend this.

deeply stirring and alluring.

From lost to found through a deep, dark journey that illuminates human longing, fears, weakness, humility, hope, faith, and love. The audio production enriches the story with sounds, silence, and tones of inflection that, like the story itself, conveyed me forward and upward. I will listen to this episodically, as the truths touched upon warrant re-illumination.