SELECTED POEMS OF DANTE

This idiosyncratic version of an Italian classic is blatantly ribald. The translation contains sexual and scatological Anglo-Saxonisms that will shock any Mrs. Grundies who may be listening. The hissy recording of DIVINE COMEDY excerpts begins with a caveat about explanatory notes read by "the pretentious and overbearing" Sir Douglas Grimaldi Craig-Owen--apparently a wry, satirical persona of translator/narrator Jay Livernois. Sir D. delivers a long, somnolent, albeit informative, introduction. He appears between every canto with more of the same. Livernois as Livernois is less interesting, fey and flat where Dante (even in this translation) is virile and dynamic. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: NOV/DEC 96]