The Divine Comedy

This book had been on my to-read list for many years, but I'm glad I read it now that I understand more of the context and know many of the characters; without that, I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much. Here we accompany Dante and his various guides through hell, purgatory, and paradise, where he reunites with his beloved. It was interesting to read and meet great personalities from history, although I feel that I would like to reread it after reading the Bible, another book that remains on my to-read list. (Translated from Spanish)

One of the great books that deserves a 5/5, a great work of universal literature. (Translated from Spanish)

A character that needs no introduction "Dante"...

A journey through hell and heaven, which are divided into circles, all the journey accompanied by characters who at some point in history were judged by the Italian as good or bad and placed in each of the aforementioned circles...

A universal work that is mandatory for any reader... (Translated from Spanish)

Beyond the political, moral, or religious meaning of the Divine Comedy, one must praise the remarkable imagination of Dante Alighieri for conceiving and developing a work of fiction like this. Above all, we are faced with a great classic of medieval literature. A product not only of the religious fervor that permeated the Western world at that time but also of the national and local conflicts that affected both Dante and his nation, Italy. With so many varied influences, the Divine Comedy is very complex and open to multiple interpretations, making it difficult to read.
A classic that every book lover should read at least once. It is not an easy read because it talks about characters not so well-known in our culture. However, I believe it is worth reading. (Translated from Spanish)

Dante's work is a masterpiece in every sense. Both in its gestation or poiésis, during the author's exile, with all the rhetorical processes and procedures elaborated during the "dispositio" - the importance of the number 3 in the work, the symbolism of the people who appear, the musical symbolisms, etc. - as well as in its literary and philosophical depth, one can appreciate the flashes of an author capable of narrating, in the most beautiful way possible, the great calamities of humanity and their subsequent suffering and redemption. The entry into Paradise is an exalted song of humanity that everyone should read. If it is possible to find a bilingual edition, the sublime value of the work is much more appreciated. (Translated from Spanish)

Dante proves to be an excellent poet with his curious obsession with the number 3 in this work. (Translated from Spanish)

Simply beautiful. (Translated from Spanish)

One of the first books I read and was enchanted by, it is very extensive but enjoyable. (Translated from Spanish)

A saga of 3 books with a total of 427 pages (hell, purgatory, and paradise). A spectacular book, advanced for its time, Dante is a complete genius, I loved it a lot. I don't give it all the stars because it is a very difficult book to understand, and I had to seek literary support to comprehend it better. But it remains a great saga, although of the 3, my favorite will always be Hell ? I can only say: Thank you, Dante, for so much ✨ (Translated from Spanish)

02/2022
I confess that it is a complicated read and it took me a long time to finish it; but it is neither divine nor a comedy. In my view, it is a literary gem produced by the Catholic tradition that Dante, in his imagination, has structured into a sort of algorithm for believers in such a way that they understand that there is an existence in the afterlife, which is conditioned by your earthly life, and that the sinner can attain grace if there is repentance.
But don’t worry… Pope Francis has already said that Hell does not exist and eliminated Limbo in one fell swoop. (Translated from Spanish)

What exquisite literature, Dante's journey through hell left me reflecting on how punishable things as trivial as the lack of baptism are in Christian mythology, and although I am not a member of any religion, that did not stop me from fully enjoying this fantastic story. (Translated from Spanish)

This book is a classic, I found it impressive how Dante can reflect hell, purgatory, and heaven. It is a book that should be read calmly and peacefully, as it can be a complex or heavy read for some. However, if you have the opportunity to read it, do so, as the way he describes and how punishment or justice is evaluated leaves us contemplating. I really enjoyed reading it. (Translated from Spanish)

The Divine Comedy, one of the most important works of universal literature in the history of humanity, is the description of a hypothetical journey that Dante himself makes to the afterlife guided by the hand of the Roman poet Virgil.

This sublime book is divided into three parts: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, each further divided into 33 cantos (an important number in the spiritual and religious realm), where a detailed and clear description of the three destinations to which, according to some believers, the souls of mortals must go once their mission on Earth is completed (depending on how we behaved, of course) is provided.

It would be impossible not to highlight, in this case, the description of the tortures that the souls who land in Hell are subjected to (hence the term "Dantean"), which truly makes you think that it would be best to behave well just in case.

A very complex book that must be read very calmly, filled with messages and pure philosophy, and which many of us will hardly understand fully, but whatever we manage to grasp is a gain for me (it would be worse not to read it). (Translated from Spanish)

If you're interested in reading this classic, prepare yourself, as the way the book is written may be heavy for readers who are not accustomed, since its beauty lies in being able to grasp the various symbolisms it contains. (Translated from Spanish)

You have to read it to live, and thanks to everything, I live to read it. Charming, embracing, and completely transforms every time I read it again. (Translated from Spanish)

For my taste on these topics, I prefer Faust by Goethe; for pleasure, I insist, it is more satirical and less retrospective. Besides, it doesn't immerse you as much in the possibilities of death...
Still, this book is very clear and ages with caution; it doesn't feel heavy, and the years treat its writings well; anyone could read it without being reluctant to its content. But perhaps they might be frightened.
It is extensive; I have it in several formats, and the one I like the most is the one that contains it in two volumes, showing first Hell and Purgatory and the second the entirety of Heaven.
It's very difficult to find a good translation, I warn you, but it remains very enjoyable.

It is already a legendary book, a classic, that coins its own term "Dantesque," and has countless film adaptations, references, video games; I believe there is no one who doesn't know about it.

I insist that I prefer Faust because the Divine Comedy is not a story per se; it is a demonstration, a parallel environment to life; if it weren't for its characters, I would say it's an encyclopedia of good and evil and what awaits you afterward.

A good book, an essential read. (Translated from Spanish)

"The Divine Comedy of Oscar Wilde" was the comic awarded the National Comic Prize 2020, and I did not know it existed. It depicts the last two years of the writer/poet's life during his "exile" in Paris. The truth is that I barely knew anything about his life; I was unaware that he had been in prison, that he had children... I only knew what the gossip had conveyed to us. The comic allows us to get closer to the defamed author, to his vices, to his weaknesses. In his time, in addition to being a writer, he was a skilled conversationalist, and what his friends said was that his written works had nothing to do with the ideas he expressed verbally, and that upon his death, those ideas, those unrecorded words would be lost forever.

It has been a very beautiful way to approach the life of an author about whom I knew very little, and from whom I want to read several of his books. The artwork in dark tones, browns, and ochres helps to understand the decay in which he lived his last years, although he was never lacking anything thanks to his friends. (Translated from Spanish)

I finally read this title, which at the time was a watershed moment and has undoubtedly had a great influence on humanity and its ideas about hell, heaven, sins, and especially the image of the devil. I must admit that it is a reading that can be a bit heavy, but quite interesting. It is a book I recommend, but I advise that if you read it, you should already have the habit of reading, or it may become a bit heavy and chaotic. (Translated from Spanish)

It is a book that alludes to guilt, and the process that a man goes through internally to be redeemed before God. For Dante, liberation and purging are notable themes, where he takes a position and shows us step by step the procession of the soul.

I would like to say more, but the years have passed. When I read it, social media as we know it did not exist yet. I have vague memories that I carry with me every day.

Unmissable. (Translated from Spanish)

Very good book, a great literary journey. (Translated from Spanish)

I loved the saga of the Divine Comedy; it is a saga of 427 pages that talks about Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise from Dante's perspective. It explains in great detail each place, convincingly believing that they exist (or at least that's what it makes you believe). There are many references to important people in history. It starts with punishments and pain in Hell and ends with much peace and tranquility in Paradise. It was a saga that personally cost me a lot to read, as it contains a vast amount of allegories and metaphors, but nothing that cannot be resolved by researching. It is a very dense reading, so I wouldn't recommend it to people who are just getting into reading. (Translated from Spanish)

An excellent book that makes you want to discover more and more every time Dante narrates the passages through hell, purgatory, and heaven. I was surprised by the author's imagination; this book should be turned into a saga. (Translated from Spanish)

A book that greatly influenced my reading because it was the first book I read and the first book that made me want to explore literature more. (Translated from Spanish)

It is a spectacular book with poetry that reaches the soul. (Translated from Spanish)

A really interesting text. Despite being a short reading, it is advisable to read it slowly, as it contains many important points to investigate and names and events to learn about, as well as the ability to reinterpret certain sections. (Translated from Spanish)

I found it very difficult to read and hard to follow the thread with the immense number of biblical characters and the history that appears. The best part was hell. Purgatory and paradise were very boring. There were many parts where I didn’t understand a single word of what I was reading. (Translated from Spanish)

I read this book in 2018 and to be completely honest, I don't remember anything; in fact, I didn't even remember having read it. My mind has gone blank since it wasn't a memorable read for me. And it makes me very sad because it is surely unique and unparalleled, but my mind has decided to completely erase the story. (Translated from Spanish)

What more can be said about this magnificent work by Dante; full of symbolism, history, and political criticism. I have to admit that it was difficult for me to finish Canticle III of Paradise due to its extensive references to characters from the Gospels and explanations. I believe it is necessary to have extra or supplementary material about the work itself to delve deeper into Alighieri's creative mind. (Translated from Spanish)

Now I understand why; it is simply due to the mere description of hell, heaven, a theme that perhaps many are concerned about. Is there life after death? If so, do they punish the wicked and reward the good? Dante shows us his vision of hell, where, first, a ferryman named Charon guides the souls across the river to place them in the first circle of hell, which is precisely Limbo, where we can find great philosophers like Aristotle and poets like Ovid, Homer, and the very Virgil, who is Dante's companion on his journey.

Our protagonist must first pass through the first 9 circles of hell, where he will encounter Minos, the guardian of the second circle, where the lustful souls end up, like Helen of Troy and Cleopatra. There is Cerberus, the three-headed dog, in the third circle, who devours the gluttons. He passes through the black lake called Styx in the 5th circle, where the souls carried away by anger and wrath reside, where the Gorgons (Medusa) were located. At the seventh circle, he encounters Minotaurs, where the souls who were murderers are punished by centaurs. And so on until he reaches where Lucifer, the fallen Angel, is.

But the story does not end there. Now Dante must pass through the 7 circles of Purgatory, where the souls, after being punished, are cleansed of sin so they can then enter heaven. An Angel marks Dante on the forehead with 7 “P”s that will fade as he cleanses his sins while traversing each of the circles, where he will finally pass through the purifying blue fire, ready to go through the gates that lead to heaven, where he embarks on his journey with his beloved Beatrice.

There, Dante begins to ascend to the circles of heaven, where the first is the Moon, then Mercury, followed by Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and finally, the Empyrean, where Mary, the cherubs, and the archangels reside. There in the 8th circle of heaven, the truth of humanity is about to be revealed to Dante, the beginning and end of everything...

And you may wonder why I made this entire introduction, well, in a summary style? Because to me, it is important to highlight the fusion that Dante made with Christianity and Greco-Roman mythology, incorporating mythical creatures, classical figures from Greek myths like the centaur, Cerberus, Medusa, among others, as part of HELL where Lucifer reigns, which is Christian (although obviously, depending on where we stand, Lucifer would take the name of Hades for the Greeks, Hel for the Norse, etc.). Additionally, he integrates great figures from history like the Roman poet Virgil or Cleopatra of Egypt, explaining the reasons why their souls rest in a specific part of hell, as in Dante’s time, great thinkers and poets would end up in hell, or women who (from my perspective) refused to submit to a man or were very revolutionary for their time would have to purge their sins first if they wanted to go to heaven, emphasizing that his Sweet Beatrice was pure, chaste, innocent, and helpful, and that is why she guides him in his ascent to heaven.

And something that cannot go unnoticed, or at least for me is extremely important, is how they viewed the Universe at that time. What do I mean by this? That if Dante were to write about heaven today, he would place Mercury first, then Venus, then the Moon, and so on, and he would surely add the two missing planets, that is, Uranus and Neptune, but according to his view of heaven at that time, the location of the bodies differs a bit, placing the Sun in 4th place and only reaching Saturn. This is, for me, something super astonishing, as reading it now shows our great advancement in this science, astronomy. And finally, how at the end of the book he describes something that has been the search of many, the absolute truth, the whole, the beginning and the end, all the answers of humanity, (a separate reference to help understand the concept, very similar to the concept in Full Metal Alchemist when Edward Elric passes through the door of truth). (Translated from Spanish)

A classic to read these days, seven centuries after Dante's death, and also after the final conclusion of his Comedy. (Translated from Spanish)