Is there any good reason to read only the Inferno, as is so common?

[Joshua]

My first answer would be no: it would be like reading only The Fellowship of the Ring, or only books 1-8 of The Iliad or The Odyssey. Thoughts?

[Mark]

I can see why people do it that way. I feel like Inferno got the most popularity and so there are times when only Inferno gets looked at. However, I would try and read through all of them. Paradiso can be a bit of a grey area and will require you to pay great attention to, but they're all fun to read about.

[John]

Read it all! You will be glad you did.

[Abigail]

I found that only reading Inferno gives the reader an incomplete understanding of the purpose of Dante's journey. What are everyone else's thoughts on the matter?

[Jesse]

I think everyone reads Inferno because it's the most unique, grotesque, and "fun" in the sense that it's well-paced and intense. I really liked Inferno, enjoyed Purgatorio, and was bored to death by Paradisio. However, I agree with Abigail in that reading just Inferno probably does not communicate why Dante wrote this in the first place.

[John]

I agree with the other comments that you should really read all of them. Inferno gets the most popularity because the imagery is still the most accessible and there is a lot of political payback going on from Dante's life. While these are good enough reasons to read it, you really don't get a full sense of Dante's vision or heart until you reach Paradiso.

I fell in love with his devotion to Beatrice and realized that this book is actually a bit of a love story. That love story culminates in Paradiso and also gives you a full view of what conceptions of Heaven was like for Dante's time period. Granted that there are places in Purgatorio and Paradiso where some have felt it to be a bit of a slog, but it's rewarding.

[Greg]

Read them all, but make sure you read one with Dore's stupendous engravings/illustrations. For me, that has made all the difference.

[Greg]

There are more naked people in Dore's illustrations in "Inferno". By the time one gets to "Paradiso" everyone is wearing angelic robes.

[Maksim]

The way I see it there are basically two reasons. The first one has already been mentioned here - there's violence and nudity - just like in some kind of Game of Thrones story. Another one is less straightforward and has to do with a popular image of Dante himself. This image has been essentially redefined by Romantic poets to fit new ideals of what it means to be a poet or a creative person of any kind. Think the darkish and eternally brooding Lord Byron. Even bright and colorful medieval portraits of Dante in illustrations and various art were abandoned for a darker image. And the only part of this trilogy suited to this purpose was Inferno, hence it was read, praised and translated more. The author's figure of the present day is still rooted into the romantic tradition, so it should come as no surprise that Inferno is still the most popular of Dante's work.

[[deleted user]]

Salve, reading only one of the three canticles is not a sin, but what Dante wanted in his heart was probably to extend to all people the possibility of ascending, albeit in a detached way, to the higher realm, Paradise. Trust me, let yourself be carried away and get to the last of the books. As the author himself specifies, although the language gets more complicated, the reader also becomes more experienced as he proceeds and does not want to abandon the way.