The Divine Comedy

The Inferno, The Purgatorio, & The Paradiso

By: Dante Alighieri

Narrated by: Pam Ward

Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise-the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation. One of the greatest works in literature, Dantes story-poem is an allegory that represents mankind as it exposes itself, by its merits or demerits, to the rewards or the punishments of justice. A single listening will reveal Dantes visual imagination and uncanny power to make the spiritual visible.

©2009 christianaudio

Highly dependent upon historical context

Is there anything you would change about this book?

It would be a better audio book with narrations of explanation on some of the people in a commentary similar to the audiobook series

Was The Divine Comedy worth the listening time?

I don't think this a book well suited to the audio format unless you have a specialization in Italian Renaissance history so you know more of the people whom Dante mentions. Most of the people visited by Dante on his trip through the abodes of the afterlife are not well known even to a person with a history major (though I admitted focused on more ancient history). This difficulty would be averted by reading an actual book version with notes (like an oxford edition) to give better context to the various people mentioned.

Besides this difficulty people being skimmed-over throughout the work, it provides an interesting, narrative portrayal of the Catholic Church's doctrines both popular in that time and generally continuing into the present.

Solid Recording

When I looked at this book I noticed that most of the reviews commented on how you need to read the Divine Comedy, not simply listen to it. I agree with this statement but if you are already familiar with the Dante's writings then this is a solid recording and quite enjoyable.

one complaint

i wish the chapters were accurate. but that is my only complaint used my droid

great sit down audio book

Would you listen to The Divine Comedy again? Why?

yes its a classic you really have to listen to this a couple of times to absorb it. i usually work when i listen to audio boods but yes good classic novel.

What other book might you compare The Divine Comedy to and why?

paradise lost

Have you listened to any of Pam Ward’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

probably dont care much for the people that speak the audio book just as long as they do a good voice lines for each character!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

oh it was good i loved to just sit and laugh at it and also absorb it

Any additional comments?

good audio book but you have to focus on this one instead of multitasking like i do when i listen to audiobooks

A good try

A wonderful audible book but as with many English translated books some points and concepts are lost in translation; the Latin version is the best, but this is really a good try

mulligan, yep calling a mulligan

loved it but man, I'm going to have to relisted to it. there is just so much going on here. he talks about ppl I have heard of and many I have not. how he divided they are where they are is very interesting. will read again

not what I was expecting

the narrator was good. the story was hard to follow because I didn't know most of the people mentioned on the different levels of hell. I lost interest around the 7th level. I gave up listening in the beginning of purgatory.

I was expecting a more exciting story

Bad performance, clunky translation, great story

This translation is by Norton and done in the Shakespearean style, which tries to transpose the beauty of Dante into poetic language, sacrificing clarity. But I did not find it as poetic as other translations, and it is sometimes very hard to understand. The performance is not good; flat and boring.

it's what you would expect and well read

I read this book at the same time as Inferno so that I could see both books and have a behind-the-scenes from fiction of today attached to this book back then. I was pleasantly surprised buy both books.

Great Narrator. Tough translation.

The narrator did a fabulous job but the English of the translation was so archaic that it was difficult to follow.