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Paradise: From The Divine Comedy

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Paradise: From The Divine Comedy

By: Dante Alighieri
Narrated by: Heathcote Williams
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Summary

"I have been in the Heaven that takes up most of his light, and saw things there that those who descend from that height cannot speak of or forget…."

Led by his guide, Beatrice, Dante leaves the Earth behind and soars through the heavenly spheres of Paradise. In this third and final part of The Divine Comedy, he encounters the just rulers and holy saints of the Church. The horrors of the Inferno and the trials of Purgatory are left far behind. Ultimately, in Paradise, Dante is granted a vision of God’s Heavenly court: the angels, the Blessed Virgin, and God Himself.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2004 Naxos AudioBooks Classics Poetry Funny

Editor reviews

This last 33 cantos of THE DIVINE COMEDY are a peaceful completion of the journey, perhaps too peaceful. British actor and playwright Williams’s narration of this section seems laid-back and somnolent. Heathcote Williams is solemn, his voice serious and low, as Dante and Beatrice ascend to Empyrean. The beauty of Paradise is subdued by Williams's quiet reverence but some lack of energy. Nevertheless, an audiobook edition is a welcome listening experience.

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The whole of the Divine Comedy was performed stupendously by Heathcote Williams. Dante’s masterwork is so beautiful, and Williams does a tremendous job bringing it to life. His tones are moderated according to who’s speaking and the tone, so that in this volume his tones are mellifluous and calm to suit the setting of Paradise, whereas in the first part (Inferno) they were appropriately strident.
I really enjoyed this as an experience, which I’d like to repeat, and found myself enjoying this very much, the more so as I suspect I’d find it quite hard to read physically.
I got a lot out of this and would without reservation recommend this performance as interesting, thoughtful and atmospheric throughout.

Exquisite performance of a beautiful text

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Wonderous imagination, fantastic delivery. What can I say…… this is Dante….like trying to critique Shakespeare, words are inadequate…such complexity and beauty……. I will listen again and again……..

Brilliant

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Dante is overrated merely because this is from history and was considered original then. It is awful stuff except people that call themselves authorities repeat it is great just because other such people have said so, and then, like lemmings, it trickles down with such a counterfeit halo to the simple brainwashed masses - like the emperor's new clothes: one is pressured to claim it is great because of peer pressure rather than genuine merit. Moreover, the foolish extremist arrogant and parochial Dante plagiarised the "miraj" and yet no one seems to want to acknowledge this; as is usual of course of the envious - and thus it isn't even original. Unoriginal, outdated, boring and unsophisticated pedestrian spurious vapid trite banality. Pure tripe.

utter waste of time, life, money

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