Rating: 
Summary: Still the same
Review: Good hardback version of the story that many people quote, but don't understand. Give it a long good read in this well bound copy of Dante's masterpiece. A definite addition to my permenant library.
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Summary: Dante and the Divine Comedy
Review: I am, and have been for many a year, a scholar of the works of Dante. Coming up to date, I have read thousands of translations of the text of all three parts of the Divine comedy, and this is the best I have found yet. First of all, it is a treat to find that all three parts of this master work are collected in this one volume, and even though the price is quite low for a hardcover book with as many pages as this, I cannot stress the quality of this edition. As many may know, Dante Alighieri was a man of great literary prowess, but was given drive by his single obsession to a small girl by the name of Beatrice. She rings true in this work, as the guiding angel, bringing Dante through the depths of hell, the wasteland of Purgatory, and finally, the glory of heaven. This has been one of the most enduring works on the human spirit, and the concept of god as seen through Christianity. Full of pun and metaphor, this is rich in language, and ready to please. Some people start their studies of Epic Poetry with Milton's "Paradise lost," but I say, speaking from experience, that Dante is far superior to Milton, but Milton is in good company as his second. I have read the original in Italian, and this is about as close of a translation as you can get. Please enjoy this.
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Summary: Only for the brains!
Review: I have often journeyed through my education seeing or hearing the name "The Divine Comedy" countless times. This is for those readers who are serious about literature and are looking for a book that recreates as closely as possible the original version of this work of art. Just reading a excerpt made me feel as if I was Dante himself. Those who don't rate this a 5 are only the ones who can not fully understand or appreciate it.
Rating:
Summary: The best!
Review: I loved the Divine Comedy. It is very thoughtfull and manages to be deep and entertaining at the same time. Also the edition itself is very nice.
Rating: 
Summary: huh?
Review: I read only Dante's Inferno in this three part book...and it was a struggle to get through that. I left each Canto wondering what just happened. I am an average reader and like to read a book without having to further translate what the hell is going on. I think the author spent to much time trying to match Dante's writing style than making it easy reading. For the beginners who want to enjoy Dante without getting lost, I'd go with JOHN CIARDI'S TRANSLATION.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting must-read book
Review: If you've ever read it, or tried to, you got to know that it is a little bit hard to swallow. Even though, the book explains a lot about the 3 after-death areas through a great mythical voyage in the judeo-christianism basis for religion. No need to be religious (or irreligious) to read it, really interesting. Used on the super movie Seven (Brad Pitt) to depict the seven mortal sins.
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Summary: Very powerful
Review: In the pages of the Divine Comedy, Dante paints his versions of Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise with such vivid detail, and in such beautiful verse, that I believe no Bible version could ever achieve. I'm sure a lot of this is due to the translation effort of this version, which is as fluid and beautiful, as it is true to the original.
The Divine Comedy is a politically-charged piece that tells as much about Dante's views on religion as it does about his political views and his position as a potential outcast. Pages of the book are filled with contemporary references, which would be impossible to figure out for the average reader, were it not for the handy endnotes that are included in this edition (Everyman's Library). Page after page describe the torments of Dante's enemies and other sinners against humanity, and bliss of those who followed righteous paths. And while his views may be often skewed, the images that Dante paints are very powerful, making the Divine Comedy a book that will appeal not only to people of Christian faith, but to skeptics and atheists alike.
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Summary: Longest love poem
Review: It is difficult to add something new to the thousands of pages that have already been written on Dante's Divine Comedy, the peak of Medieval / Renaissance literature.Dante's work is the longest love poem ever put on paper, and that for a pubescent girl, whom the author probably saw only on a few ephemeral occasions. They were for him his 'Divine Appearances' of Beatrice. On the other hand, certain 'political' aspects of the Comedy are still very modern, like the clashes between religious and worldly powers. Here, Dante criticizes the interventions of the Catholic Church in worldly matters to defend her profane but huge interests. Dante's work is also an eminent catholic poem. As Jesus Christ, who said 'who's not for me, is against me', Dante fulminates (and puts in hell) against those who didn't accept his vision of society (strict separation between religious and wordly powers), or those who didn't belong to his political party and sent him in exile. My personal preference goes to the 'Hell' part, where certain images evoke the impressive pictures of Jheronimus Bosch. Everybody - even the heathen - should read this monument of human art, even if Dante's message is sometimes biased or flawed.
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Summary: A good traslation, an amazing epic
Review: Not much needs to be said about Dante and his Comedy. If you don't already know what it's about that's a shame. Dante was an amazing poet and this journey through hell, purgatory and heaven is a reflection of so much about him and he times he lived in. While some poeple believe that this was purely a work of religious fervor I know that it was only patially based in that. The book was also political... just take a look at the people he put in hell! People he had issues with. This edition is great because it has endnotes which explain all of Dante's sometimes veiled references to people and events. But that doesn't detract from Dante's knowledge of Catholic dogma and his Grecco-Roman myth heritage. He draws from many sources (including the writings of Aquinas) religious and secular to form his vision of hell, purgatory and heaven. Now, as to the translator. I know that it's always hard to maintain a balance between the literal translation and the feeling of the poetry. In my opinion Mandelbaum has done the right thing in staying more on the side of literacy. Yes, Dante was a poet and he wrote beautiful poetry, but in order for us English speakers to really get what his Comedy is saying we have to have a little clarity. Dante is veiled enough, he's a poet, when you translate poetry into more poetry you run the risk of just obfuscating more. If you haven't ever read the Divine Comedy then try this translation first. If you know Italian then go read the Italian and skip this translation silliness. Or try the paperback versions that split up Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven into separate books. The Italian is on one side and the translation on the other. But after gaining a good understanding of the text then by all means go read more poetic versions to get a better feel of the beauty of Dante's language.
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Summary: Much prefer the old Sayers translation
Review: Penguin classics had mystery author Dorothy Sayers translate the Divine Comedy decades ago. She died before completing the work -- Barbara Reynolds finished it in her spirit, preserving the flow of Dante's terza rima, and with copious notes especially careful on the theological side of the work's multi-faceted significance.
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