The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy [Paperback]
Guy P. Raffa


Dante AlighieriΓÇÖs Divine Comedy has, despite its enormous popularity and importance, often stymied readers with its multitudinous characters, references, and themes. But until the publication in 2007 of Guy RaffaΓÇÖs guide to the Inferno, students lacked a suitable resource to help them navigate DanteΓÇÖs underworld. With this new guide to the entire Divine Comedy, Raffa provides readersΓÇöexperts in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Dante neophytes, and everyone in betweenΓÇöwith a map of the entire poem, from the lowest circle of Hell to the highest sphere of Paradise.

Based on RaffaΓÇÖs original research and his many years of teaching the poem to undergraduates, The Complete Danteworlds charts a simultaneously geographical and textual journey, canto by canto, region by region, adhering closely to the path taken by Dante himself through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. This invaluable reference also features study questions, illustrations of the realms, and regional summaries. Interpreting DanteΓÇÖs poem and his sources, Raffa fashions detailed entries on each character encountered as well as on many significant historical, religious, and cultural allusions.