It's a lighter place to visit than Hell: although there IS suffering to be endured, everyone who reaches its shores is assured of salvation, and Dante's relief as he encounters some of his friends there is palpable. Purgatory doesn't have the dramatic scenes of torture that fill Inferno, although some of the punishments are enough to make a tender-hearted listener squirm.
(Short musical segments bridge each canto.) I don't know anything about Benedict Flynn as a translator - his work appears to have been done specifically for this recording and is not available anywhere in print, as far as I know - but it is a lucid narrative, and Heathcote Williams gives each line time to sink in.
But of the many versions of The Divine Comedy available on Audible, the Naxos version has the clearest translation and the best music. (Sept.The pace is a little "stately," to put it politely. It all works seamlessly as Chwast does a stunning job of telling Dante's story in his own brilliant style. Dante himself is portrayed as a pipe-smoking detective type in sunglasses and a trench coat, while his guide, Virgil, wears a porkpie hat and wire-rimmed spectacles with his suit. Much of the book is beautiful, with page design showing naked sinners tossed in a wind of words, a two-page spread of men and snakes wrapped in writhing battle, or a large flower made of angels as they fly from God. In another, the levels and regions of purgatory are laid out in an ascending birthday cake format.
One graph illustrates "reasons for different levels of punishment," with sins ranging from "no self-control" (deemed "not so bad") to "insane brutality" (which is "terrible"). With his signature mix of humor, artistry, and high-level design, he conveys a breathtaking amount of information in clear black and white line drawings. In a highly compressed version of Dante's Divine Comedy, Chwast takes us on a whirlwind tour of hell, purgatory, and heaven. Famed artist and graphic designer Chwast has turned his talents to the graphic novel form for the first time, and we can all be happy about it.
0 kommentar(er)
