Exploring Dante's "Divine Comedy" with Prue Shaw: From Here to Eternity

Galadriel: If you want to read the Commedia, read Prue Shaw's book first.

United States on Jul 17, 2021

Kenneth Hunter: The author is an excellent scholar of Dante. Despite the depth of knowledge revealed by the author, this work is beautifully written; in fact a masterpiece.

United Kingdom on Dec 12, 2020

James Watson: I was reading about Dante for the first time and so i chose to begin with this book. I am delighted with it, as it is so easy to read and yet it contains so much information and rich detail. For any person reading about Dante for the first time, look no further, this is a gem.

United Kingdom on Feb 15, 2017

Bill_Ben: There is no doubt that “Reading Dante: From Here to Eternity” is a masterful and detailed analysis of the Commedia and Dante’s life. It delves into the connections between the poetry and historical events with deep perception. The research presented with all lines of the cantos imparts greater understanding of the poetry and the period. The intertextual aspects and the allegories leave one with appreciation “from here to eternity”, as the title states.

One learns about the tumultuous life of Dante and how his genius explored and invented not only poetic and linguistic forms, but had extended his reach into political and theological platforms with unparalleled effects on the future of Italy.

The explanations and the quotations elucidate what an invaluable gift the Commedia is to western literature. One can understand why William Blake learned Italian only for wanting to read and translate Dante in its original. Could Dr. Shaw’s mastery in the presentation inspire the reader for closer association with the Commedia? That depends on the reader’s predilection for Dr. Shaw’s outstanding book. Even if our moral judgment is more lenient than that of Dante,...

United States on Dec 27, 2015

R. H. Chandler: I have been reading and re-reading Dante all my adult life and have never read anything better, clearer or more inspiring about him. Prue Shaw has clearly learned something from her many years of reading Dante. She chooses the right word; she knows how to structure her sentences and to organize her thoughts. There were many paragraphs I found myself wanting to read aloud to my wife as I read this on holiday. A book full of insights.

United Kingdom on Dec 23, 2014

E. Prestwich: I found Reading Dante: From Here to Eternity compulsively readable both because of the directness, sensitivity and eloquence with which Shaw responded to the poetry and fiction of the Commedia itself and because of the vividness with which she brought the historical background alive. I'll certainly read it again, and more than once, both for the sheer pleasure of reading it and because it's so rich in information and ideas. Of the different books on the Commedia that I've enjoyed it's certainly the one I've enjoyed the most. It's probably the one that's taught me the most too.

In fact I thought it hit the spot on every level. It's crammed with knowledge and insight that are informative and stimulating even for people who know Dante much better than I do. At the same time, Prue Shaw has the great gift of being able to see things from the point of view of people who aren't Dante scholars and speak to them in a way that's neither patronising nor intimidating. Above all, this is a matter of clarity of mind, of knowing exactly what she needs to tell her readers so that they can follow her arguments and explanations clearly and emerge with solid knowledge and insight. I'd have...

United Kingdom on Nov 17, 2014

GM: Shaw's is an outstanding book about an outstanding book. Those unfamiliar with the Divine Comedy can find in "Reading Dante" a very well-written introduction to what Dante's great book is all about. The writing is clear and free of jargon; Shaw gets into the politics and literary tastes of 13th century Florence just enough to provide appropriate background. She quotes short passages of the Divine Comedy to illustrate specific points, but one could take advantage of "Reading Dante" to begin a more extensive reading of Dante's masterpiece.
For those who have read the Divine Comedy and are, perhaps, looking for a discussion of the main issues that this work raises, "Reading Dante" is invaluable. The questions are presented explicitly and in clear language and the arguments that follow are concise and equally lucid. Professor Shaw does a particularly good job in the discussion of Dante's ability to use all the resources of the then new Italian language to create a totally original masterpiece. I think there are no other commentaries to the Divine Comedy that are as wide-ranging in scope and satisfactory in the treatment.
I read the hard cover version, nice illustrations

United States on Sep 30, 2014

Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk: For me, one who thought himself to be well-acquainted with the "Commedia", well - I felt like some rookie detective at the scene of a crime stumbling over the body having never seen it; Prue Shaw is the seasoned expert shining her light here, then there, pointing out all the little things I'd missed or could never have noticed. This wonderful book inspires one to read again. It is written, on the whole, in a very clear manner and, I believe, is accessible to anyone who is even vaguely interested in Dante.

Prue Shaw tackles the "Commedia" through topics ("Friendship", "Power", "Life", "Love" etc) that transcend all three books, thus highlighting links between them or the way that themes are developed, sometimes running parallel to each other (certain themes recurring at the same point in each book) or flowing through from one to the other. In the process, she unfolds the social, cultural and historical background to Dante's vision.

It is really when we get to her final topics of "Numbers" and "Words" that I experienced what I can only call an epiphany because Prue Shaw revealed the true magic of Dante's work which can only be appreciated by reading the "Commedia" in...

United Kingdom on Jul 28, 2014

Classical Curiosities: I purchased Shaw's book in preparation for an exhibition of Illustrations for Dante's "Inferno," not exactly sure what this author had to tell me. While a scholarly and profoundly "in depth" study of Dante's "Divine comedy," it was fascinating reading from first page to last. There is so much important information packed into this volume that I found myself marking off passages on dozens of pages. I had promised to pass the book on to my friends at Walsh University (where the exhibition is planned), but I don't want to part with it! They can buy their own copies!

United States on Jul 14, 2014

ewaffle: “Reading Dante” is a sublime book, the work of a scholar who has spent fifty years studying, translating and editing the works of Dante Alighieri and his contemporaries in fourteenth century Italy. Prue Shaw seems to know her way around late medieval Florence and Tuscany as well as the byways of University College, London her academic home base. This is a book that one feels lucky if he encounters something like it every five years—beautifully written, packed with the result of a lifetime of scholarship and presented in a distinctive but easy to follow manner, organized thematically instead of the more typical “and then he went to the next circle where Virgil said...”.

Even though “The Divine Comedy” is a narrative poem, Prue Shaw dispenses with a plot summary, a good idea since it would become simple chronology in inferior language or just a list of sins and horrors that await sinners. She shows us the experience of the journey, the sense of being at the pilgrim’s side as he is gradually changed by what he sees, hears, and feels, as he moves from a man ‘lost in a dark wood” to one who is “turned by the Love that moves the...stars.” Shaw deals with...

United States on Jul 07, 2014