THE DIVINE COMEDY & A LIFE OF DANTE Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise

Dante wanted everyone to read his great work and share his vision, not just the clergy; so he wrote it, not in Latin, but in the Italian of his Florentine home. As a result, it became the defining work for the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Dante would be pleased, then, with Naxos's production of his epic masterpiece. They have taken an impressive new translation by Benedict Flynn; enlisted a skilled actor--Heathcote Williams--to narrate; punctuated each canto with hauntingly beautiful medieval chants; added a short but vital biography of Dante, narrated by John Shrapnel; and, finally, provided written notes that are crucial to any intelligent understanding of the text. Though an abridgment, it is a package the author would be most happy with, for it makes the rich poetry of his Comedy, not just readable, but accessible and relevant to the madness of our time. Both readers are accomplished actors and acutely sensitive to the power of their text: For Shrapnel it is the touching pathos of Dante, exiled from his home in Florence; for Williams it is the magnificent imagery that creates the pity of the Inferno, the hope of the Purgatorio, and the bliss of Paradise. P.E.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 02]