Customer Reviews
Not for me - By: Stephanie Noverraz, 11 Mar 2008 
Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy (before Purgatorio & Paradiso).
In this book, we follow Dante as he visits Hell, walking down its nine consecutive Circles accompanied by the poet Virgil, & meeting old acquaintances on the way.
This should not become a habit, but I intend to stop after the first volume & not finish the trilogy. First, I realize I'm simply not sensitive to poetry. Then, there are too many references to public or mythical figures of the Antiquity & 13th-century Florence, & I'm not sufficiently educated in History & Biblical Lore to enjoy this book.
Still, Sisson's modern English translation is good & reads easily. The notes at the end of the book are well-done & help understand what Dante is referring to, but I was too lazy to constantly check back & forth. I'm wondering if it would have been a better choice if they'd been placed in the margin.
Divinely nasty - By: E. A Solinas, 04 Feb 2007 
"Midway life's journey I was made aware/that I had strayed into a dark forest..." Those eerie words open the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's "Inferno," the most famous part of the legendary Divina Comedia. But the stuff going on here is anything but divine, as Dante explores the metaphorical & supernatural horrors of the inferno.
The date is Good Friday of the year 1300, & Dante is lost in a creepy dark forest, being assaulted by a trio of beasts who symbolize his own sins. But suddenly he is rescued ("Not man; man I once was") by the legendary poet Virgil, who takes the despondent Dante under his wing -- & down into Hell.
But this isn't a straightforward hell of flames & dancing devils. Instead, it's a multi-tiered carnival of horrors, where different sins are punished with different means. Opportunists are forever stung by insects, the lustful are trapped in a storm, the greedy are forced to battle against each other, & the violent lie in a river of boiling blood, are transformed into thorn bushes, & are trapped on a volcanic desert.
If nothing else makes you feel like being good, then "The Inferno" might change your mind. The author loads up his "Inferno" with every kind of disgusting, grotesque punishment that you can imagine -- & it's alll wrapped up in an alllegorical journey of humankind's redemption, not to mention dissing the politics of Italy & Florence.
Along with Virgil -- author of the "Aeneid" -- Dante peppered his Inferno with Greek myth & symbolism. Like the Greek underworld, different punishments await different sins; what's more, there are also appearances by harpies, centaurs, Cerberus & the god Pluto. But the sinners are mostly Dante's contemporaries, from corrupt popes to soldiers.
And Dante's skill as a writer can't be denied -- the grotesque punishments are enough to make your skin crawl ("Fixed in the slime, groan they, 'We were sullen & wroth...'"), & the grand finale is Satan himself, with legendary traitors Brutus, Cassius & Judas sitting in his mouths. (Yes, I said MOUTHS, not "mouth")
More impressive still is his ability to weave the poetry out of symbolism & alllegory, without it ever seeming preachy or annoying. Even pre-hell, we have a lion, a leopard & a wolf, which symbolize different sins, & a dark forest that indicates suicidal thoughts. And the punishments themselves usuallly reflect the person's flaws, such as false prophets having their heads twisted around so they can only see what's behind them. Wicked sense of humor.
Dante's vivid writing & wildly imaginative "inferno" makes this the most fascinating, compelling volume of the Divine Comedy. Never fun, but always spellbinding & complicated.
