The Divine Comedy cover art

The Divine Comedy

Penguin Classics

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The Divine Comedy

By: Robin Kirkpatrick - translator, Dante Alighieri
Narrated by: Jot Davies, Robin Kirkpatrick, Kristin Atherton
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide, his ascent of Mount Purgatory and his encounter with his dead love Beatrice, and finally, his arrival in Heaven.

Examining questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, the poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. This major translation is published here for the first time in a single volume.

Public Domain (P)2020 Penguin Audio Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature Epic European Poetry Themes & Styles World Literature Italy Funny

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All stars
Most relevant  
Coming on Dante for the first time I am blown away. So many subsequent literary styles are shown up as pompous and stilted. Now to relisten.

Dante's constant freshness

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The greatest work of literature you can set your mind to. Take your time to thoroughly enjoy this, I would recommend reading Virgil and follow up with The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Condrad. Then if you still have an appetite delve in the Vietnam War, according to Francis Ford Coppola & Martin sheen (Apocalypse Now). This book is everywhere and referenced by everyone. As ubiquitous as Shakespeare. Even if you've never read the Divine Comedy you'll know the story and use Dante's language. 🙂

A classic

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The narration is great, would listen to the Vergil voice actor again (Kirkpatrick).

Sometimes I've got lost on certain sections but can give great morals beyond religious beliefs. Watched summary for some explanations on YouTube if I have struggled with the story. Overall, loved it.

Moralistic based on belief.

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Fascinating! will re-visit, probably many times
(and nine eight seven more words as requested optionally)

Now it makes sense!

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Worth listening to again or recommending to a friend especially the part titled inferno which after all is where we are all most likely to go

Marvelous

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Painfully hard work listening to the the long convoluted ideas of a medieval monk about heaven and hell (O and purgatory) as created by an obviously vain sadistic god.

Might have been good research material for anyone interested in the study of religion of the time if it wasn't for the awful attempts by the narrator to dramatise the stuff nor the weird translation.

Hard work

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I'm not going to lie, it's a long listen and a concerted effort of concentration is required throughout. However, the whole comedy could have been made so much easier, if Robin Kirkpatrick would have let someone else read the part of Virgil, along with the narration of the introduction etc. I don't scoff at and indeed am full of admiration of his herculean effort and dedication to the task of providing a translation but it clearly exhausted him and this came across in his delivery. His sighing is clearly audible throughout, especially in the reading of the introduction and the apparent tiredness in his voice makes it monotone and quite frankly boring to listen to. Sorry Robin!

Mammouth undertáking!

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