The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso - Hardcover

The Divine Comedy carries Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso in one volume, Dante's walk out of hell, begun around 1308 and finished at his death.

Good to know

Read at surface level it is a journey down through hell, then purgatory, then heaven. Read at any depth it is a soul moving toward God.

Details

The theology under it is medieval and Christian, leaning hard on Thomas Aquinas, which is why the poem doubles as the clearest picture the Western church ever drew of its own worldview.

Dante wrote in Tuscan, and the poem did more than any decree to turn that dialect into the Italian language.

From the publisher

The Divine Comedy (Italian: La Divina Commedia) is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature.

The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. It helped establish the Tuscan dialect in which it is written as the Italian standard. It is divided into three parts, the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

On the surface the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; but at a deeper level it represents allegorically the soul's journey towards God. At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially the teachings of Thomas Aquinas. At the surface level, the poem is understood to be fictional.