Dante's Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise (Audiobook - TTC) (Repost)

Two gifted teachers share the fruit of two lifetimes' worth of historical and literary expertise in this introduction to one of the greatest works ever written. One of the most profound and satisfying of all poems, the Divine Comedy (or Commedia) of Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) is a book for life. In a brilliantly constructed narrative of his imaginary guided pilgrimage through the three realms of the Christian afterlife—hell, purgatory, and heaven—Dante accomplished a literary task of astonishing complexity. James Joyce might have been speaking for those writers when he exclaimed, "Dante is my spiritual food!" The full achievement of the Commedia, however, goes far beyond anything merely "literary." Dante is a geographer of the cosmos and a student of the soul. His range spans not only the heights of heaven and the depths of hell but also the recesses of the human heart. As Dante the pilgrim makes his journey, Dante the poet dramatizes and asks us to reflect on fundamental questions: In the seven centuries since the Commedia was written, not one of these questions has lost its force. Moreover, Dante addresses them in a demanding and innovative Italian verse form called terza rima. His complex arrangement of materials makes the Commedia one of the great virtuoso pieces of world literature.