A wide-ranging exploration of Dante Alighieri’s literary masterwork and its influence on writers, poets and film-makers up to our own time.
Reviews:
‘Divinely produced … Packed with beautifully reproduced images … Erudite and urgent, Ian Thomson makes an excellent Virgilian guide and his Dante’s Divine Comedy is another book that everyone ought to read’, Frances Wilson Spectator.
‘A guide, not only to the Commedia but also to Dante’s biography, intellectual world and afterlife … Worth savouring as a chunky, chatty, richly illustrated guide that brings Dante and his world within our reach’ Matthew Reynolds Evening Standard.
‘Succinct but wide-ranging, Ian Thomson’s richly illustrated exploration of Dante’s masterpiece [is] fun … ingenious … Fascinating’, Miranda Seymour Observer.
‘This book is an object of great beauty … Thomson’s aim, triumphantly realised, is to remind us why Dante’s great poem is a ‘landmark”, A.N.Wilson, Tablet.
‘[A] lively new book … It has become a cliché to refer to critics as Virgil, but it would be hard to think of any more appropriate way to describe what Ian Thomson offers here’, Matt Thorne, Catholic Herald.
‘Thomson teases readers into wanting to find out their own answers. He’ll lead you back to that neglected copy on your book shelf. And this time you’ll pick it up’, Stefanie Marsh, Financial Times.
‘Encapsulates everything we need for the ultimate poetic voyage from Hell to Paradise by way of Purgatory’, Jonathan Keates, TLS, Books of the Year.
‘Thomson’s elegant, intelligent guide views the epic poem as a kind of recovery programme for those who have lost their way, and in turn leads you back to that neglected original on your bookshelf’ Financial Times, Carl Wilkinson, Books of the Year.
“This handsome, abundantly illustrated, sprightly book should bring Dante new readers”, Desmond O’Grady, Sydney Morning Herald
“Ian Thomson traces the afterlife of Dante and his work not only in literature -Blake, Byron, Borges all figure here – but in art…. an inspiring book”, Stoddard Martin, The Quarterly Review