Book description
In Paradise, having plunged to the uttermost depths of Hell and climbed
the Mount of Purgatory, Dante ascends to Heaven, continuing his soul's
search for God, guided by his beloved Beatrice. As he progresses through
the spheres of Paradise he grows in understanding, until he finally
experiences divine love in the radiant presence of the deity. Examining
eternal questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, Dante exercised
all his learning and wit, wrath and tenderness in his creation of one of
the greatest of all Christian allegories.
Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265 and belonged to a noble
but impoverished family. He was married when he was around twenty to
Gemma Donati and had four children. He met Beatrice, who was to be his
muse, in 1274, and when she died in 1290 he sought distraction in
philosophy and theology, and wrote La Vita Nuova. He worked on the
Divine Comedy from 1308 until near the time of his death in Ravenna in 1321.
Dorothy L. Sayers wrote novels, poetry, and translated Dante for the
Penguin Classics. She died in 1957.
Barbara Reynolds was Lecturer in Italian at Cambridge University and
subsequently Reader in Italian Studies at Nottingham, and Honorary
Reader at Warwick. She has written books, both on Italian authors and
on Dorothy L. Sayers.
