Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Inferno

by Guy P. Raffa

Book Overview

One of the greatest works of world literature, Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy has, despite its enormous popularity and importance, often stymied readers with its multitudinous characters, references, and themes. But until now, students of the Inferno have lacked a suitable resource to guide their reading.

Welcome to Danteworlds, the first substantial guide to the Inferno in English. Guy P. Raffa takes readers...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226702685
• ISBN13: 9780226702681
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Good introductory study guide

This is a concise study guide to Dante's Inferno which would be most helpful to those studying the work in a survey of literature course, or as introductory material for self-study. For each circle of Hell, the book provides an overview, and then discusses each significant encounter and allusions in the text. Several signicant verses are cited, and study questions are provided. You can see the structure of the material, as well as abridged notes from the book on the author's excellent website, http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/. The book provides a little more depth. While this guide is helpful in providing a survey of the work, if one is going to study Dante in-depth, it really is helpful to get good historical background information as well. For this, you will have to look elsewhere. The guide provides a timeliine of major events in Dante's life, without comment, nothing else. A chapter on his life, politics in Florence, and the 13th century would provide context, although this may be more information than the book's intended audience really requires. Those who want more may be interested in the Cambridge Companion to Dante. The Kindle edition Table of Contents hyperlinks to the chapters, but not to sections within the chapters.