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The Inferno of Dante  By  cover art

The Inferno of Dante

By: Dante Alighieri,Robert Pinsky - translator
Narrated by: John Cleese
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Publisher's summary

"Midway on our life's journey, I found myself in dark woods, the right road lost. To tell about those woods is hard - so tangled and rough...." So begins Dante Alighieri's epic poem of a journey through Hell. With the poet Virgil as his guide, Dante travels through the 9 circles of Hell, listening to the voices of the condemned until at last, "we came forth, and once more saw the stars." Poet and essayist Robert Pinsky's translation captures the intensity and passion of the literary masterpiece, and world-renowned actor John Cleese contributes a profound and electrifying performance.

To supplement this reading of Dante's Inferno, listen to The SparkNotes Guide to Dante's Inferno.
Recording (P)1997 by Audio Literature; Translation Copyright 1994 by Robert Pinsky

Critic reviews

"Line by line, canto by canto, Pinsky's version responds to every nuance of meaning in the original while its English remains fluid and colloquial." (Alan Williamson, The American Poetry Review)

What listeners say about The Inferno of Dante

Average customer ratings
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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Interpretation, Somewhat difficult to follow

The Inferno is an excellent work in itself and is extremely interesting for anyone. The narration of Mr. Cleese is however somewhat difficult to follow. His overly-excited and passionate voices for the suffering denizens of hell are difficult to make out. It is however very fun to hear a voice from a Monty Python movie or the like come through. Listen carefully and follow along and you shouldn't have too many problems.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic narration and translation

John Cleese is perfect, and Pinsky's translation is the best. My only problem with this title is the abridgment. Why is it abridged? Several cantos are left out, and it only serves to detract from the experience. The unabridged readings on Audible only seem to be about an hour longer.

For those unfamiliar with the text, the Inferno is the first part of a trilogy about hell, purgatory, and heaven (in that order). The story of Dante's journey through hell is dark, but not scary. I'd describe it as wondrous. It's like a sight-seeing trip. What you are seeing is horrible, yet so vivid and interesting that you can't turn away. My favorite part about it is how specific Dante is about everything. He describes exactly where in hell each type of sinner should go and what their punishment should be, all in great detail.

The other side of the Inferno is its historical context. Not only is Inferno a great read, but it also offers a glimpse at Dante's worldview. In almost every canto Dante encounters people he either knew personally or were well known at the time. In this way it almost reads like an angsty teenager's blog, calling out all of the ass kissers and bullies that he can't otherwise do anything about.

I prefer Robert Pinsky's translation because it is modern, it doesn't try to rhyme (yet preserves the flow), and it is beautifully blunt.

Regardless of the missing cantos (don't worry, they are few), I highly recommend this audio book. John Cleese really is amazing, and nobody else has narrated Pinsky's translation. In my opinion, there is not a better version available.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Surprisingly Good

John Cleese narrate Dante?! Definitely took a few minutes to purge the Monty Python demons from my head, but once I got into it I think Cleese was a remarkably good narrator. Some complained it was hard to understand, but I thought he was very understandable.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Poor audio quality

The audio quality is very poor. Sounds like it was re-recorded from tape! This made it very difficult to understand. I gave up on it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful translation, terrible sound engineering

This should have been a five star review given the quality of the book, the wonderful translation and brilliant reader. Unfortunately, Poor sound engineering seems to have rendered a surprising amount of this audiobook inaudible. It was almost as if John Cleese was moving in and out of range of a single, mediocre quality microphone.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome!

Dante’s Inferno read by John Cleese. Doing voices. What more could you ask for. Very easy read. Enjoyable,

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Should be remastered

Terrible audio quality, but an interesting read for everyone interested in the renaissance. Good performance by Mr. Cleese.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very Poor Recording

Of course the story is very interesting and its fun to have John Cleese provide the narration. However, the recording is very poor. At times it is difficult to hear. I had read the book in college so I knew the story line but could not always follow due to the poor audio.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best rendition of Dante's Inferno EVER.

If you only ever read Dante's Inferno once, or are a long time fan who has read countless reiterations already, this chilling and compellingly narrated rendition is a must-have.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The Inferno of Dantè is worth listening to.

Somber, but not depressing. John Cleese is a great narrator. It's a short listen, and well worth it.

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