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 was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages, best known for his masterpiece, the epic Divine Comedy, considered to be one of the greatest poetic works in literature. A native of Florence, Dante was deeply involved in his city-state’s politics and had political, as well as poetic, ambitions. He was exiled from Florence in 1301 for backing the losing faction in a dispute over the pope’s influence, and never saw Florence again. While in exile, Dante wrote the Comedy, the tale of the poet’s pilgrimage through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. To reach the largest possible audience for the work, Dante devised a version of Italian based largely on his own Tuscan dialect and incorporating Latin and parts of other regional dialects. In so doing, he demonstrated the vernacular’s fitness for artistic expression, and earned the title “Father of the Italian language.” Dante died in Ravenna in 1321, and his body remains there despite the fact that Florence erected a tomb for him in 1829.