Inferno
by Dante Alighieri · Inferno
Assigned by 3 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 1308-1314
- Era
- Medieval
- Form
- Epic poetry
- Language
- Italian
- Length
- Medium · 300 pp120 to 300 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendInferno, translated by Robert Hollander and Jean HollanderAnchor, 2002Verse translation with the Italian facing and the fullest notes of any paperback.
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The first canticle of the Divine Comedy. Dante, lost in a dark wood at the age of thirty-five, is rescued by the shade of Virgil and led down through the nine circles of Hell, from the neutral souls at the gate and the virtuous pagans in Limbo, past the lustful, gluttonous, wrathful and heretical, into the deeper regions of violence, fraud and treachery. Each punishment answers the sin. Among the damned are Francesca da Rimini, Farinata, Ulysses and Count Ugolino, and at the bottom Satan frozen in ice chews the three great traitors.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Inferno are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
