PARADISE: Dante's Divine Trilogy Part Three. Englished in Prosaic Verse by Alasdair Gray

by Alasdair Gray, Dante Alighieri

Overview

Dante, now guided by Beatrice, faces the final third of his epic journey through the wheels of divine justice. Yet as he passes through the spheres of Heaven, he struggles with his faith, striving to understand the scales of good and evil that determine the fate of a human soul.

The final book from Alasdair Gray, Paradise is a fitting conclusion to his own irreplaceable body of work, as well as to his masterful retelling of Dante's trilogy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786894748
Publisher:	Canongate Books
Publication date:	04/06/2021
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Born in 1934, Alasdair Gray graduated in design and mural painting from the Glasgow School of Art. Since 1981, when Lanark was published by Canongate, he authored, designed and illustrated seven novels, several books of short stories, a collection of his stage, radio and TV plays and a book of his visual art, A Life in Pictures. In November 2019, he received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Saltire Society. He died in December 2019, aged eighty-five.

Editorial Reviews

Rich in vivid imagery . . . Dante's voice, even when rendered into English-language prose, resonates across the centuries, occasionally addressing the reader directly in a thrilling breaking of the fourth wall. Some cantos even end in a cliffhanger, making Purgatory surprisingly readable and engaging; this is no stuffy old classic

Herald

Praise for Dante's Divine Trilogy: Alasdair Gray has cast a spell over Dante's Hell, creating (and decorating) a verse translation that is modern, lyrical, yet faithful to the original

Best Books of 2018 New Statesman

This slim but handsome volume sees Glasgow author Gray complete part two of his translation of Dante's Divine Comedy . . . If you've ever wanted to try the classic, but have been daunted, now is your chance

Sunday Post

Slick, easy to read . . . Gray is rather good at catching the colloquial nature of the poem . . . An excellent primer to Dante . . . In terms of verve, vim and vigour Gray has succeeded here. It is, if such a thing can be, an "easy" Dante, and one that does capture the comedy as well as the pathos and anguish of the poem

Scotsman

An ancient masterpiece glistens again as his lyricism takes flight, while keeping one foot balanced on solid ground . . . Gray turns Dante's language into clear English, sometimes with a playful comic turn . . . Remarkable

i

Praise for Alasdair Gray: A necessary genius

ALI SMITH

Powerfully conveys the appalling nature of a vision which has terrified and enthralled Western men and women down the centuries

Times Literary Supplement

The best Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott

ANTHONY BURGESS

One of the brightest intellectual and creative lights Scotland has known in modern times

NICOLA STURGEON

Praise for Dante’s Divine Trilogy:
“Alasdair Gray has cast a spell over Dante’s Hell, creating (and decorating) a verse translation that is modern, lyrical, yet faithful to the original” New Statesman

“An ancient masterpiece glistens again as his lyricism takes flight, while keeping one foot balanced on solid ground . . . Gray turns Dante’s language into clear English, sometimes with a playful comic turn . . . Remarkable” i

Praise for Alasdair Gray:
“A necessary genius” ALI SMITH

“The best Scottish novelist since Sir Walter Scott” ANTHONY BURGESS

From the Publisher