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A review by chris_dech
The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso by Dante Alighieri
3.0
I'm too lazy to write a proper review, but The Divine Comedy is certainly deserving of its reputation.
As a whole it's great: moving, grand in scale and vision, and thought-provoking. It's rich in thought, reference, knowledge, and philosophy. And it's just such a labour of love, literally, that one can't help but admire the work that went into it.
But it's also frustrating at the pace with which it moves, and it can be overwhelming with the number of people met in the work. It has this weird tugging between slow and fast, where scenes can seem to drag on, even though it's only contained within one chapter, or canto, as they are called. And that, quite honestly, really can hamper the experience.
Kirkpatrick's translation is serviceable, at best. But it's rather stiff and not very poetic, so I'd suggest looking for another one.
6, maybe 6.5/10.
As a whole it's great: moving, grand in scale and vision, and thought-provoking. It's rich in thought, reference, knowledge, and philosophy. And it's just such a labour of love, literally, that one can't help but admire the work that went into it.
But it's also frustrating at the pace with which it moves, and it can be overwhelming with the number of people met in the work. It has this weird tugging between slow and fast, where scenes can seem to drag on, even though it's only contained within one chapter, or canto, as they are called. And that, quite honestly, really can hamper the experience.
Kirkpatrick's translation is serviceable, at best. But it's rather stiff and not very poetic, so I'd suggest looking for another one.
6, maybe 6.5/10.