The Divine Comedy 1: Hell

Written by Dante Alighieri

Narrated by Ben Onwukwe

'Abandon all hope, you who enter here’

Frightened and helpless, Dante is desperate to escape the darkened wood and join his Beloved Beatrice at the gates of Heaven. But fate and fear have other plans. His Vigil can do little to stop the wrath of God. Nor can Dante hope to escape the clutches of the leopard, lion and she-wolf, all guarding his path. There’s only one way in – with no way out.

As he climbs the stairway to Hell, Dante’s realisation, recognition and rejection of sin must begin. But who will he meet along the way? And what wrongs have they reckoned with to end up in God’s burning Inferno?

Weaving a profoundly philosophical tale of heaven and hell, sin and sacrifice, Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy 1: Hell’ is the ultimate and original depiction of a soul’s journey toward God. Set on Good Friday, the year 1300, Dante’s first instalment of his epic poetic narrative is ideal for film fans of ‘Dante’s Hell’. It remains today one of the greatest works of world literature.

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher, celebrated as the ‘father’ of the Italian language. His ‘Divine Comedy’ (Comedìa) is widely celebrated as one of the most important poems of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary works in the Italian language. The work was instrumental in shaping the Western world’s understanding of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven and continues to influence depictions across all art forms today. A skilled linguist, Dante was also instrumental in establishing literature in Italy, along with standardising the Italian language at a time when published works remained almost exclusively in Latin. He is celebrated for diversifying accessibility to reading and religion, during an era long before the industrial printing press.

• Language: English
• Publisher: SAGA Egmont
• Release date: Dec 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9788728177013

Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was an Italian poet. Born in Florence, Dante was raised in a family loyal to the Guelphs, a political faction in support of the Pope and embroiled in violent conflict with the opposing Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor. Promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati at the age of 12, Dante had already fallen in love with Beatrice Portinari, whom he would represent as a divine figure and muse in much of his poetry. After fighting with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino in 1289, Dante returned to Florence to serve as a public figure while raising his four young children. By this time, Dante had met the poets Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia, and Brunetto Latini, all of whom contributed to the burgeoning aesthetic movement known as the dolce stil novo, or “sweet new style.” The New Life (1294) is a book composed of prose and verse in which Dante explores the relationship between romantic love and divine love through the lens of his own infatuation with Beatrice. Written in the Tuscan vernacular rather than Latin, The New Life was influential in establishing a standardized Italian language. In 1302, following the violent fragmentation of the Guelph faction into the White and Black Guelphs, Dante was permanently exiled from Florence. Over the next two decades, he composed The Divine Comedy (1320), a lengthy narrative poem that would bring him enduring fame as Italy’s most important literary figure.