Dante's Divine Comedy: A Graphic Adaptation Book Review by ChristineMM

Dante’s Divine Comedy A Graphic Adaptation Book Review by ChristineMM




Title: Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Graphic Adaptation
Adaptation by: Seymour Chwast
Publication: Bloomsy ry USA, August 2010

My Star Rating: 3 stars out of 5 = It's Okay

Summary Statement: Not a Replacement for the Original; If Context is Lacking Reader Misses a Lot

Unlike some others on the market, Chwast’s graphic adaptation, I don’t feel, is a replacement for reading the original book. The language is simplified and the story is laid out with large graphics (not small boxes comic-book style that fit more content on each page). There are few words on the page, so even at over 120 pages this read like a fast-forward outline of the original work.

I have not read the entire original book by Dante, but for this review I read excerpts of Dante’s original to compare. I have read some other graphic presentations of classic literature, some of which use all the original language and some that use modern language and still others use simplified, easier reading type language and am comparing this to those adaptations. All of the others I’ve read and seen have more illustrations with greater detail than this also.

Having read Chwast’s adaptation from cover to cover, as a reader who has not read the original classic I had trouble connecting to the story. It just went so fast and I didn’t feel emotionally tied or even very interested in the story. The scariest parts were not horrifying but came off as funny to me in a way that I thought, “I don’t think I’m supposed to think this is funny but it is”, such as in some torture scenes and I’m unsure if this was the intent or not. I found myself scoffing at some religious ideas instead of aligning with Dante’s vision to inspire the reader to lead a moral life. I’d hoped to feel hooked in to read this cover to cover in one sitting or at least within one day but I found it boring and uninteresting. I wound up read this over two weeks time picking it up and reading along for short bursts.

The book’s simple language is easy to understand but my gaps about Catholic church history, history of the Saints, and with the political history of Italy I was lost in some parts. (I fully acknowledge that my lack of context and my ignorance on these topics is not a fault of Chwast, the adaptor but am explaining this so readers of this review may think about whether this graphic adaptation is enough to read as a stand-alone or for what purpose this would be read. For example, a school teacher reading my review may wonder how this could be used instead of or alongside a reading of the original work.)

To be honest, reading this graphic adaptation underscored for me the importance of context and how certain works of literature really deserve a careful reading and study to not just understand it but to educate and enlighten the reader in the process of reading it through further study to fill the reader’s knowledge gaps. Honestly I now want to read Dante’s original as my curiosity is piqued. I was left with a feeling that I’d like to learn more about some of these things that I don’t know about in order to understand Dante’s journey more deeply.

The characters in the story are illustrated with 1920s American styles of dress which was an interesting choice that I don’t quite understand. The illustrations are in black ink (unlike the full color book cover) and the illustrations are not very detailed. The faces of the people usually have just the eyes with eyebrows, nose, mouth, and facial hair, most have no additional lines to show emotion on the face. The illustrations remind me of coloring book pages with outlines and white space inside (even the clouds—are those white clouds on a blue sky or storm clouds or what?). There is no shadowing or cross-hatching to show light and dark areas, it’s either solid black or white space.

I can only speculate that some who understand the original work who also enjoy graphic adaptations may find this adaptation entertaining yet I am sure some would dislike or hate this feeling it cannot ever compare to the original, longer and more detailed allegorical poetry version. I don’t think I can predict how you will receive this book no matter how hard I try!

I rate this book with Amazon’s rating key of 3 stars = It’s Okay comparing this to other graphic adaptations of classic works of literature currently in print such as those published by Classical Comics Ltd.



Disclosure: I receieved an advance reading copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program. I was under no obligation to also post my review on my blog. I was not paid to write this review. For my blog's full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog's sidebar.