Dante for Beginners

Writers & Readers Documentary Comic Book #81

by Joe Lee

Dante Alighieri is considered by many the greatest poet who ever lived. This book provides a canto-by-canto description of the books of The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Poetry

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 1999

Reviews

[Daniel Chaikin]

My Litsy review : "More Dante prep, easier reading this time. 🙂 (It‘s kind of like schmoop with illustrations)

These books are actually helpful to me, but not much more to add to that above.

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50. Dante for Beginners by Joe Lee
published: 2011
format: 180 page paperback. Not a graphic novel, but heavily illustrated
acquired: Library
read: Oct 12-14
time reading: 3 hr 46 min, 1.3 min/page
rating: 3

[Riku Sayuj]

More fun than the cliff notes. Good Illustrations. Useful to read ahead a few cantos here, so that the reader can focus on the poem itself instead of worrying about teasing out the meaning. Recommended.

[Önder Kurt]

OK, I get it; having a comic relief here and there in an introductory book on a classical text may be a good thing. But trying to be funny in every sentence, the author neglects the main task: giving a good, concise introduction to a difficult text full of historical and theological references.,

Creating a Sitcom ambiance is not helping.

[Sal Leggio]

I got it because I wanted to find out a little more about The Divine Comedy. I had only read the inferno. But I find that Lee's breezy irreverent style really doesn't lend itself to the material.

[Jonathan]

None

[James G.]

I totally enjoyed the writing in this book. It was a terrific introduction to Dante's life.