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The Dante Club

By Matthew Pearl

(99)

| Paperback | 9780099465980

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Book Description

Words Can Bleed.

In 1865 Boston, the members of the Dante Club -- poets and Harvard professors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, along with publisher J.T. Fields -- are finishing America's first translation of The Divine Comedy and preparContinue

Words Can Bleed.

In 1865 Boston, the members of the Dante Club -- poets and Harvard professors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, along with publisher J.T. Fields -- are finishing America's first translation of The Divine Comedy and preparing to unveil Dante's remarkable visions to the New World. The powerful Boston Brahmins at Harvard are fighting to keep Dante in obscurity, believing that the infiltration of foreign superstitions onto American bookshelves will prove as corrupting as the immigrants living in Boston Harbor.

As they struggle to keep their sacred literary cause alive, the plans of the Dante Club are put in further jeopardy when a serial killer unleashes his terror on the city. Only the scholars realize that the gruesome murders are modeled on the descriptions from Dante's Inferno and its account of Hell's torturous punishments. With the lives of the Boston elite and Dante's literary future in America at stake, the Dante Club must find the killer before the authorities discover their secret.

Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and outcast police officer Nicolas Rey, the first black member of the Boston police department, place their careers on the line in their efforts to end the killing spree. Together, they discover that the source of the murders lies closer than they ever could have imagined.

The Dante Club is a magnificent blend of fact and fiction, a brilliantly realized paean to Dante, his mythic genius, and his continued grip on the imagination.

Critics

  • THE DANTE CLUB by Matthew Pearl

    Review by Vesna McMaster (JUN 30, 2011) You could classify The Dante Club loosely as historical fiction. Or perhaps, try historical-fantasy-fiction-literary-murder-mystery. It’s definitely a work to be enjoyed by “literary types,” but also by thrill- ... (read full critics)

    mostlyfiction published on Fri, 1 Jul 2011

  • The Dante Club

    Shotsmag Reviews - The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl The Dante Club is Matthew Pearl's first novel, but not his first foray into the world of publishing. He is currently editing and releasing Dante's COMEDY, and his passion for the work shines through ... (read full critics)

    shotsmag published on Mon, 27 Sep 2010

4 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    We follow several literary big wigs around Boston during 1865 and their adventures with translating Dante into English. That doesn't sound too exciting in itself; however, someone has started murdering people in the fashion of Dante. The Dante Club now has the task of finding out who "Lucifer" reall ... (continue)

    We follow several literary big wigs around Boston during 1865 and their adventures with translating Dante into English. That doesn't sound too exciting in itself; however, someone has started murdering people in the fashion of Dante. The Dante Club now has the task of finding out who "Lucifer" really is and stopping him before he kills again. To be honest, I had a difficult time getting into this book. I am not sure if it was the person reading it (I had the audio version) or if I just wasn't connecting with the text. After awhile though, the story blossomed and it did indeed get good. The plot was interesting, but I felt that there was too much extra information and it dragged a bit. I think the people who would enjoy this book the most would either be people interested in literary history or Dante. As I have little experience with either, it was a bit of a stretch for me.

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    cjspock said on Nov 30, 2007 about the Audio CD edition | Add your feedback

  • Didn't really enjoy the style of writing...though its plot seems really interesting.....might read it some other day when I have nothing to read LOL

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    Amily said on Oct 2, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • Dinstinct in the writing styles which are beautiful on their own rights and being 150 years apart in the backdrop settings, the rule of four and the Dante club bear a lot of common themes: mysterious literary legacies from Renaissance Florence created by men both condemned by their contemporaries, ... (continue)

    Dinstinct in the writing styles which are beautiful on their own rights and being 150 years apart in the backdrop settings, the rule of four and the Dante club bear a lot of common themes: mysterious literary legacies from Renaissance Florence created by men both condemned by their contemporaries, which were left to be deciphered by 4 close scholarly friends, prestigious Ivy League institutions, and even the secret underground tunnels which hold the key to shed the light on the dark mysteries. Intriguing parallel, isn't it?

    One of the protagonists, Holmes, usually self-centered and self-congratulating, is vividly portrayed that through his striving journey, Dante 's struggles between evil and redemption were rendered in the 19th century New England, which in turn, leaves me ponder upon my own choosing sides when conscience and selfishness clash.

    The description of the trauma cast on soldiers retired from horrendous, gory battlefields has never been more opportune for us to lament on given the troubled yet contextually coincident war time we are now witnessing.

    A good read indeed.

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    meowmeow said on Feb 5, 2007 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • A lot of the characters really existed so it helps to know a little about them.

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    PossMan said on Sep 10, 2006 | Add your feedback

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