Narrated By: Kristin Atherton, Jot Davies, Robin Kirkpatrick
Duration: 17 hours and 17 minutes
What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin
The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide; his ascent of Mount Purgatory and encounter with his dead love, Beatrice; and finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, the poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. This major translation, described by Bernard O'Donoghue as 'likely to be the best modern version of Dante', is published here for the first time in a single volume.
(P) Penguin Audio 2020
Genre
Poetry by individual poets
Listen to a sample
We gain much from Kirkpatrick's fidelity to syntax and nuance... His introduction...tells you, very readable indeed, pretty much all you need for a heightened appreciation of the work
Kirkpatrick brings a more nuanced sense of the Italian and a more mediated appreciation of the poem's construction than nearly all of his competitors
The perfect balance of tightness and colloquialism . . . Likely to be the best modern version of Dante