The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri and Allen Mandelbaum

The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia) is an epic poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed 1320, a year before his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature[1] and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature.[2] The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language.[3] It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

On the surface, the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise or Heaven;[4] but at a deeper level, it represents, allegorically, the soul's journey towards God.[5] At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy and the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas.[6] Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse".[7]

The work was originally simply titled Comedìa and was later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio. The first printed edition to add the word divina to the title was that of the Venetian humanist Lodovico Dolce,[8] published in 1555 by Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari.

With every passing word, The Divine Comedy becomes more and more impenetrable. The first part, Inferno, is magnificent and even at times funny. The second, Purgatorio, is where things begin to fall apart; around halfway through this second section, the book turns into musing of philosophical ideas, long speeches by characters extolling their ideas (Dante's ideas) on universal truths, how the universe works, and by Hell, Purgatory, and Life are arranged as they are. The third part, Paradiso, is only more of these long speeches and dialogues, but lacks the element that made the first two parts so entertaining: Virgil, the Roman poet, who serves as Dante's guide through hell and purgatory, who is not allowed to usher him through heaven because he was a pagan (although the best sort of pagan). The third section replaces Virgil with Beatrice, a woman with whom Dante seems to be in love (more on this in a second).

Fundamentally, this book is an excuse for Dante to make fun of people he doesn't like (by putting them in the various, deeper sections of hell and purgatory) and to laud people he does like (by putting them, like Virgil, in the “best” part of hell, or on planets in the solar system more close to God's throne). Really, this is just Dante's way of poking fun at contemporary politics and near history to his day, and when the purpose seems to be satire and mockery the poem works exceptionally well. This all comes to a head when Beatrice is introduced, a woman from Dante's real life whom he was smitten with before she (apparently) died, who guides Dante through heaven, is more beautiful than anything else he has ever seen, and is revealed to be a woman so holy that she gets to stand next to the Virgin Mary.

That's right, this whole book is just a setup for Dante to simp for a dead lady. SPOILERS, right? I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations has passed on this thin.

I didn't hate this, but I didn't love the last two-thirds of it, either. It gets three stars because the Inferno was a ton of fun. Also, this book is illuminating where the medieval worldview is concerned. The various theological themes, the way the zones of each of the three books are separated, the depictions and imagery, the alignment and ordination of the solar system...it's all fundamental stuff, if one want to try and make sense of medieval theology or culture. For that reason, I'm definitely glad that I listened to this. Also, the narrator was incredible.

I want to like this more because I want to be well-read and smart. But maybe being smart is overrated.

I listened to an audio book version. Sometimes it was hard to understand what was going on. But interesting. I think next time I listen I'll follow along with a printed version.