Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
42 used & new from £5.34
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics)
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

by Dante (Author), Robin Kirkpatrick (Translator) "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita ..." (more)
3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
RRP: £10.99
Price: £7.69 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £3.30 (30%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, July 14? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
34 new from £5.34 8 used from £5.51
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover Order it used

Frequently Bought Together

Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics) + Purgatorio (Penguin Classics) + The Divine Comedy: Paradise v. 3 (Penguin Classics)
Price For All Three: £24.47

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Purgatorio (Penguin Classics)

Purgatorio (Penguin Classics)

by Dante
£7.69
The Divine Comedy: Paradise v. 3 (Penguin Classics)

The Divine Comedy: Paradise v. 3 (Penguin Classics)

by Dante
£9.09
Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)

Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)

by John Milton
4.6 out of 5 stars (5)  £6.99
The Odyssey (Penguin Classics)

The Odyssey (Penguin Classics)

by Homer
4.4 out of 5 stars (12)  £4.77
The Bible: Authorized King James Version (Oxford World's Classics)

The Bible: Authorized King James Version (Oxford World's Classics)

by Robert Carroll
4.1 out of 5 stars (17)  £7.19
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 560 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics (30 Mar 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140448950
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140448955
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 12,738 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #2 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > Poetry > World > Italian
    #20 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism > Literary Theory & Movements > Medieval
    #34 in  Books > Poetry, Drama & Criticism > History & Criticism > Poetry & Poets

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Product Description
Describing Dante’s descent into Hell midway through his life with Virgil as a guide, Inferno depicts a cruel underworld in which desperate figures are condemned to eternal damnation for committing one or more of seven deadly sins. As he descends through nine concentric circles of increasingly agonising torture, Dante encounters doomed souls including the pagan Aeneas, the liar Odysseus, the suicide Cleopatra, and his own political enemies, damned for their deceit. Led by leering demons, the poet must ultimately journey with Virgil to the deepest level of all. For it is only by encountering Satan, in the heart of Hell, that he can truly understand the tragedy of sin.

About the Author
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265. Considered Italy's greatest poet, this scion of a Florentine family mastered in the art of lyric poetry at an early age. His first major work is La Vita Nuova (1292) which is a tribute to Beatrice Portinari, the great love of his life. Married to Gemma Donatic, Dante's political activism resulted in his being exiled from Florence to eventually settle in Ravenna. It is believed that The Divine Comedy—comprised of three canticles, The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso—was written between 1308 and 1320. Dante Alighieri died in 1321. Robin Kirkpatrick is a poet and widely-published Dante scholar. He has taught courses on Dante's Divine Comedy in Hong Kong, Dublin, and Cambridge where is Fellow of Robinson College and Professor of Italian and English Literatures.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics)
61% buy the item featured on this page:
Dante: Inferno (Penguin Classics) 3.7 out of 5 stars (3)
£7.69
The Divine Comedy (Oxford World's Classics)
14% buy
The Divine Comedy (Oxford World's Classics) 4.7 out of 5 stars (3)
£5.99
The Divine Comedy: Inferno v. 1 (Penguin Classics)
11% buy
The Divine Comedy: Inferno v. 1 (Penguin Classics) 4.9 out of 5 stars (8)
£6.39
Inferno (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature): Inferno v. 1
9% buy
Inferno (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature): Inferno v. 1 4.5 out of 5 stars (12)
£3.99
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Divinely nasty, 4 Feb 2007
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
"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 and supernatural horrors of the inferno.

The date is Good Friday of the year 1300, and 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 -- and down into Hell.

But this isn't a straightforward hell of flames and 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, and the violent lie in a river of boiling blood, are transformed into thorn bushes, and 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 -- and it's all wrapped up in an allegorical journey of humankind's redemption, not to mention dissing the politics of Italy and Florence.

Along with Virgil -- author of the "Aeneid" -- Dante peppered his Inferno with Greek myth and symbolism. Like the Greek underworld, different punishments await different sins; what's more, there are also appearances by harpies, centaurs, Cerberus and 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 and wroth...'"), and the grand finale is Satan himself, with legendary traitors Brutus, Cassius and Judas sitting in his mouths. (Yes, I said MOUTHS, not "mouth")

More impressive still is his ability to weave the poetry out of symbolism and allegory, without it ever seeming preachy or annoying. Even pre-hell, we have a lion, a leopard and a wolf, which symbolize different sins, and a dark forest that indicates suicidal thoughts. And the punishments themselves usually 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 and wildly imaginative "inferno" makes this the most fascinating, compelling volume of the Divine Comedy. Never fun, but always spellbinding and complicated.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars You either love or hate it..., 10 Oct 2008
Dante's Inferno tells of a fantastic journey into the inner circles of Hell and was written in the early 14th century. Dante uses himself as the main character and his lierary hero, Virgil, as his guide given to him by his lost love Beatrice. What follows is a moving tale which details Dantes travels through the different realms where sinners live out their horrific punishments. He meets well known people (such as Homer, Ovid and Judas Iscariot), but also talks to a lot of his political rivals that he met during his time in Florence (before his eventual exile).

There isn't much in the way of a storyline, but what there is is a frightening depictiction of this terrible plane of existance, and at times it feels as if he himself struggles to write. But then this could probably be due to Kirkpatrick's translation.

Guranteed, a translation from the Italian vernacular epic poetry into English is no easy task. But I must say Kirkpatrick did amazingly well. Sure it is understandable that the poem may lose its original rythm and meaning, but this extremly qualified translator still gives the poem its beauty. Added to this penguin classics edition is an incredible introduction that talks about Dante's backstory, the politics of Florence (that has a huge amount of influence on the poem), an insight into Inferno, and a look at Dante's writing style. Another addition is a map of 14th century Italy and a plan of Dante's hell.

At the back of the book is a description and explanation of each of the 34 cantos that are thourough and I believe essential, and notes that you can find the appropriate lines throughout the poem, giving an even more detailed insight into this divine comedy.

However, whilst reading this, I couldn't help but feel that at times Dante was lying back on Vergil's (and at times Ovid's) legacy. Many of the events/characters/meanings are based on Vergil's Aeneid (of which I haven't read), which I find slightly irritating. That a master of the Italian language such as Dante, who you can tell has a vast imagnation, must use unoriginal story ideas from Vergil, is a little disappointing. Maybe Dante felt that it was neccessary to use these images to create a more vivid picture of hell, but I think that it wasn't needed.

To conclude, this is a medieval masterpiece, which I thouroughly enjoyed reading and went on to influence many literary giants in the future. Incredible.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
9 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Not for me, 11 Mar 2008
By Stephanie Noverraz "crooty" (Lausanne, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy (before Purgatorio and Paradiso).

In this book, we follow Dante as he visits Hell, walking down its nine consecutive Circles accompanied by the poet Virgil, and meeting old acquaintances on the way.

This should not become a habit, but I intend to stop after the first volume and 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 and 13th-century Florence, and I'm not sufficiently educated in History and Biblical Lore to enjoy this book.

Still, Sisson's modern English translation is good and reads easily. The notes at the end of the book are well-done and help understand what Dante is referring to, but I was too lazy to constantly check back and forth. I'm wondering if it would have been a better choice if they'd been placed in the margin.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

Fun for Everyone

Christmas Gifts
Achieve over 15,000 RPM with our great range of Powerballs.

›Shop the Powerball store

  

Beauty without the Beast

Olay Regenerist Daily 3 Point Treatment Cream
From au naturel to party glam, we have all the best names in cosmetics and skincare.

›Discover Beauty at Amazon.co.uk

  

Boys Smell

Lynx Africa Body Spray and After Shave Gift set
But we make sure they smell good...

›Discover male grooming at Amazon.co.uk

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates