This is Not Dante's Purgatory

Birk and Sanders have adapted Dante's Purgatorio to bring a modern feel to it. Not only have they tried to add some modern references and expressions to Dante's comedy, but Birk has recreated the Dore woodcut drawings.

               While I like the idea of modernizing the text a bit and I did think that some of their attempts were at least somewhat creative, for example:

'Jeez', I thought to myself, 'look at those guys! They look like they could be Miriam during the siege of Jerusalem, or like something from Auschwitz.'

I thought that Birk and Sanders ultimately failed in their attempt. Beyond the addition of some modern expressions and the insertion of contemporary people, there were times when they inserted profanity into the text and while it wasn't overwhelming (See my review of Dante's Inferno by Birk and Sanders for a discussion of profanity in that work) it did distract me and ruin the overall experience. I simply don't need to have F bombs and the like being inserted into the text to try and make it feel modern.

               Many of the drawing were imaginative and impressive, but a few bothered me, especially the ones on pages 173, 179, and 186. The first was a depiction of Eden, which in the Comedy is found on top of Mount Purgatory, as a strip club; very inappropriate in my opinion. The other two were of women dressed and looking provocative, in fact there is a picture of a woman on a stripper pole with no shirt on page 179.

               The work is an interesting read and if you can get past the vulgarity and the unseemly pictures you might find it interesting. Obviously this is not a work for children and in my opinion, I would suggest you simply leave this work alone and read Dante's original.

If you simply have to read it you might find a copy HERE

Review: How Dante Can Save Your Life

How Dante Can Save Your Life is, in some ways, a cross between a spiritual self help book and an autobiography. The author traces his journey through family struggles, the loss of his beloved sister, and his own physical illness. What got him through all of his personal problems, he says, was reading Dante's Divine Comedy (along with a priest, confession, and a Christian counselor).

            If you are seeking a book that will help you understand the Comedy of Dante you will need to find another. The aim of this book is not to help one understand the finer points of the Comedy or the historical background, but rather to describe how one man was helped by reading this great poetic masterpiece. If you desire to read how one man's trip through Dante's Comedy helped him come to grips with his own shortcomings and understand things that were causing him great hardship, them this is certainly the book for you.
            While I enjoyed reading this book and was challenged by some of the spiritual insights that the author points out, there were some things that I did not like. One example is in chapter 19 (The Ghost In You) the author tells the story of a haunting that he was involved with. Supposedly his grandfather was haunting the house his parents lived in. He tells the story and how they had an exorcist come and cleanse the home. He then relates this to the idea of forgiving those that have passed on and "Letting them move on toward eternal peace, and allowing ourselves to progress toward love and healing".[1] While I think that we should forgive those who have sinned against us I do not believe that the ghosts of our friends and family members can haunt us and I also do not believe that the spirits who have passed on know what is happening on earth.
            Overall the book was well written, had some significant spiritual insights to share, and was fairly enjoyable to read. The book will at least give most people a desire to read or reread Dante's Divine Comedy and that, in my opinion, is a good enough reason to recommend it.

Get a copy HERE

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[1] Dreher, Rod. How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History's Greatest Poem (p. 214). Regan Arts.. Kindle Edition.