Proper Caution The Paradiso feels like the riskiest book to read, much less write about. To begin with, we have only enough information about Heaven to spark lots of speculation, much of it pretty fanciful. Mark Twain skewered pious visions of Heaven by pointing out that most men he knew don’t act like they’d even…

Earlier in this series: Why Read Dante How to Read Dante Introduction Dante himself has multiple guides throughout his Comedy, and part of his point is that our souls need assistance on their journeys from perdition (the state of being lost) to salvation. We cannot save ourselves (perhaps an unpopular idea for all times and…