![]() ![]() For us, Mark Vernon in Dante’s Divine Comedy: a Guide for the Spiritual Journey is an admirable and illuminating guide who is able to unravel the meanings of this complex medieval work for a contemporary audience. In the Divine Comedy Dante has two wise guides – the classical Roman poet Virgil who accompanies him to the end of Purgatory, and Beatrice who takes over in Paradise. All this makes for three rather fat books, and not everyone has the stamina to embark on reading without a guide. ![]() In addition, many of them include multiple and extensive notes to each of the 100 ‘cantos’ to explain points of language, context or interpretation. The English editions tend to come in three volumes, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, each with the Italian and English translation side by side. The prospect of reading the whole of Dante’s Divine Comedy on one’s own is probably daunting. ![]()
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