Purgatorio (Bantam Classics)
by Dante Alighieri
List Price:
Our Price: $3.43
You Save: $3.52 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.02 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Dante AlighieriIllustrator: Barry Moser
Translator: Allen Mandelbaum
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1984-01-01
ISBN: 055321344X
Number of pages: 448
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Book Reviews of Purgatorio (Bantam Classics)
Book Review: A masterful blend of poetry and theological innovation
Summary: 5 Stars
Dante's PURGATORY often fails to receive the appreciation accorded INFERNO or even PARADISE. The reasons are easy to see. Unlike the fascinating tour of hell, the denizens of Mount Purgatory lack the tragic dimensions of those found in the nether regions. Yes, they are suffering, but overall their situation is one for them to be happy about, since they clearly are marked for eventually reaching paradise. Their scenario contains infinitely more good news than bad news. Also, there are few passages in this work that can compare with such highpoints in INFERNO as the tales of Francesca or Ulysses.
Nonetheless, this is probably the most original of the three parts of Dante's COMEDY, and the one that has exerted the most actual theological influence. For that reason alone is essential reading. Nor is the work without considerable literary merit. The fact is that it is only dull in comparison with the extraordinary masterpiece that preceded it. Though sedate compared to its predecessor, the book contains a host of fascinating and brilliant details.
The historical importance of this work can scarcely be overestimated. Ideas about purgatory had been developing slowly over the millennium preceding the 12th century, and when Dante was writing PURGATORY in the early 14th century, there was surprisingly little consensus about the nature of purgatory. After Dante, however, there would be a widespread consensus on the details concerning purgatory. In this way, Dante exerted as much influence on the conception of purgatory as any of the theologians. Surely this is one of the few instances in church history where a creative artist bears the primary credit for theological dogma (I should add Catholic dogma, since protestants have never believed in the existence of purgatory). For instance, before Dante there was debate about where purgatory was located. In this world? In a section of hell? As an antechamber of paradise? Dante states that it is a place on earth, in the southern hemisphere, at the precise opposite of Jerusalem. What was the physical constitution of purgatory? Dante depicts it as an extraordinarily high peak (in fact, the highest mountain on earth) on an island, consisting of an ante-purgatory at the base, seven levels or terraces (hence the title of Thomas Merton's remarkable autobiography, THE SEVEN STORY MOUNTAIN), with an earthly paradise at the summit. Theologians had debated how long souls would reside in purgatory, many holding that they would remain until the final judgment. Dante depicts a process of limited duration, possibly extending to the final judgment, but far more likely ending before then. Before Dante, most conceived purgation taking place by fire, but Dante describes a variety of punishments depending on the type of sin, with fire reserved exclusively for the sin of lust. Many had debated whether purgation would take place with the assistance of demons or angels, but Dante clearly depicts benevolent angels aiding souls in their purification. Similarly, many wondered if purgatory could be better conceived as more closely akin to hell or paradise, but Dante unquestionably links it more closely with the latter, in that once one is in purgatory, one is on the path to paradise. Most importantly, prior theologians had conceived purgatory as a place where minor, unimportant sins were purged, and definitely not the major sins. But Dante conceives of purgatory as a place where only the mortal sins are purged, the seven levels dealing with pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust in succession. Minor sins don't even show up on his moral radar. Before Dante, purgatory is a vaguely conceived place, but after this work it is vividly imagined.
As in his translation of INFERNO, Mandelbaum provides a beautiful and highly readable translation of Dante. We are lucky to have many superb translations of Dante in English, but this is clearly among the very best, and in fact might be for many readers the translation of choice. Certainly it has few if any rivals for both accuracy and beauty. One can obtain it either in this trade paperback edition or in a beautiful one-volume edition published by Everyman, containing all three parts of the COMEDY, though without the Italian text.
Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $60.00
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.81
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.65
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Survival In Auschwitzby Primo Levi
Touchstone; Published: 1996-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.69
Price in other shops:
SHAKESPEARE: The Tragedy of Hamlet (New Kitteredge Shakespeare Series)by William Shakespeare
Focus Publishing/R. Pullins Company; Published: 2009-01-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.61
Price in other shops:
The Death of Ivan Ilyichby Leo Tolstoy
Tribeca Books; Published: 2012-01-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.38
Price in other shops:
Selected Poems And Four Plays of William Butler Yeatsby William Butler Yeats
Scribner; Published: 1996-09-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.71
Price in other shops:
Endgame and Act Without WordsGrove Press; Published: 2009-06-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops:
Final Harvest: Poemsby Emily Dickinson
Back Bay Books; Published: 1964-01-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
An Essay Concerning Human Understandingby John Locke
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1996-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.69
Price in other shops:
Man a Machine and Man a Plantby Julien Offray de La Mettrie
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1994-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.30
Price in other shops:
Paradiso (Bantam Classics)by Dante Alighieri
Bantam Classics; Published: 1986-01-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops:
Inferno (Bantam Classics)by Dante Alighieri
Bantam Classics; Published: 1982-01-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.38
Price in other shops: