About the Author

Guy P. Raffa is associate professor of Italian at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the "Inferno," also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews

"Danteworlds--the book and the website--makes the Comedy's universal message accessible and meaningful to all readers. In his superbly written and always engaging presentation of the three realms of the afterlife Guy Raffa displays the rare ability to see, as it were, both the forest and the trees, capturing the grand outlines and shape of Dante's poem as well as identifying and providing incisive commentary on its myriad components--people, places, events, themes. Not only will first-time readers of the Comedy appreciate Raffa's meticulous overview, but seasoned scholars will also profit from his many critical insights. Danteworlds will have a major impact on the ways we read, teach, and study the Comedy."--Christopher Kleinhenz, Carol Mason Kirk Professor Emeritus of Italian, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1/6/2009 12:00:00 AM)

"In no sense is this just another Cliffs Notes approach to Dante. In my view, this guide to Dante's poetry is clearly the very best single book available for any student or interested general reader. The commentary and structure of the guide constitute a very impressive work of scholarship in that it admirably fulfills its goal of presenting Dante's poem in all of its complexity without reductionism. Raffa has managed to hit exactly the right balance between providing information to readers and challenging them to use sources and Dante scholarship to come to grips with the meaning of the poem."--Peter Bondanella, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, Film Studies, and Italian, Indiana University (12/4/2008 12:00:00 AM)

"Guy P. Raffa's accessible and in-depth guide offers a variety of cues
essential in interpreting Dante's infinite references."-- "Annali d'Italianistica"

"This useful study guide, aimed at the student or non-specialist reader, provides a detailed canto-by-canto summary of the Divine Comedy, together with explanations of the many literary, mythological, historical, and political allusions throughout the poem."-- "Medium Aevum"