Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21920 in Books
• Published on: 1976-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 141 pages

Synopsis
Reproductions of Dore's scenes from the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso are accompanied by lines from Longfellow's translation.

Customer Reviews

Gustave Dore's superb engravings for Dante's classic work
I have a horrible confession to make: I much prefer to look at Gustave Dore's fantastic and grotesque scenes depicting Dante's "Divine Comedy" with just appropriate lines from the Longfellow translation then have to deal with all those tercets. Even worse, I think these 135 illustrations from the 1861 edition comprise Dore's best body of work, even better than his famous Bible illustrations completed five years later, mainly because I think Dore's style is better suited to the depths of Hell and the realms of Purgatory, rather than the stories of the Bible. Clearly Dore found his kindred soul mate in Dante and even though he did classic engravings to illustrate everything from "Don Quixote" to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," this is his monumental achievement. Many admirers like the plates depicting the souls writhing in the fiery torments of Hell, but my favorite has to do with the lower level of hell where Dante and Virgil encounter the souls frozen in ice (Canto XXXII). This Dover edition is relatively inexpensive, which means the paper quality is geared towards economy rather than reproduction, but I think that it a satisfactory tradeoff, all things considered.

Stunning Pictures
This book is fantastic for reading along side the Divine Comedy, as it clearly shows Dore's interpretations of Dante's book. It allows you to understand The Divine Comedy better in that it gives you a visual stimulus for some of the harder to understand parts of the book. Dore's pictures are fascinating, and also intriguing. I would definately recommend this book for anyone who is reading The Divine Comedy

In a word--- Fantastic
Beautiful portraits detailing the story of the Divine Comedy from Inferno to Paradise. Complements the text wonderfully.