In the Hand of Dante

I don't read many novels, even if they are a bit historical, but this is one of my favorite books. Tosches is an excellent writer and easy read. I read Dante and then proceeded to read many of Nick's other works. But alas, he hasn't written many novels, and this is his best, so I was only disappointed. The chapters go back and forth between the present day mafia fight over Dante's original manuscript and the time when Dante was actually writing it. It's a little lewd at times, so definitely not for the faint of heart. Pick this up and you won't be able to put it down until finished. On a side note, Tosches claims he was educated in a bar. This is one smart, intellectual dude, so I wouldn't be surprised that he skipped the status quo upbrining.

Nick Tosches has written a masterpiece of profane beauty unlike any other. Sex, history, violence, inspiration, poetry: all combined in the most potent vision of Tosches' brilliant literary quest. When there is a discussion of the greatest American writers (Mailer, Roth, Updike, etc) Tosches should be at the top of that list; no one writes with this power, intelligence and sheer mindblowing genius.

"La via sola al Paradiso incommincia nel Inferno."(The only way to paradise begins in hell)This note from Dante's Divine Comedy sums up the main thread of Tosche's compelling and irresistable page-turner. Juxtaposing the profane (murderous lowlifes in present-day NYC) with the profound (gorgeous, poetic explorations of Dante's own inspirations and experiences, as well as some real gems in the author's own voice -- he's a character in the novel himself) Tosches' work reflects this idea in his choice of material and in the experiences of his characters. The mix is strange (and perhaps offputting for more sensitive readers) but it works. Powerful, erudite, beautiful, well-researched... and supremely entertaining.This is my first encounter with Tosches, but it won't be my last.

IN THE HAND OF DANTE bears the label "A Novel" on the cover. This is inaccurate; to label a book as "A Novel" is to imply that it is a work of fiction. What Nick Tosches has done here is to take the ordered and deliberate gathering of printed word somewhere beyond that, into a realm where fact and fiction intertwine to the extent that what results is neither fable nor reality. It is simply what it is. This is a work of a type, like NAKED LUNCH, like THE SOUND AND THE FURY, a work that will cause discussion and argument and fisticuffs to take place. Tosches at one point during IN THE HAND OF DANTE puts forth the proposition that artists don't create for themselves, but for their descendants, since artists are never appreciated during their lifetimes. IN THE HAND OF DANTE at once presents this argument and is, perhaps, the main exhibit of its case-in-chief.IN THE HAND OF DANTE is a difficult work, undoubtedly by design. It is almost impossible to read at one sitting --- there are passages where the language is so beautiful, and the ideas so deep, that one must simply look away for a time --- yet it is compelling to the point of obsession. When one is away from it, one wonders what is occurring within the universe contained within the binders. That universe proceeds on two tracks. One track follows Dante, as he is composing THE DIVINE COMEDY, and the influences upon him during that period. His main influence is an elderly Jewish rabbi --- and I use the term "rabbi" not in the clerical but in its true context. There are extended passages during which the elder explores the magic of language and the influence of cabbala upon the Christian religion and the fallacies upon which it is built. Look, he says, look, see what is to be plainly seen and what has been ignored. Are you ready, he asks Dante, and the reader, to see the truth? It is almost painful to read these passages; doing so may occasionally require two or three perusals, with time for reflection afterwards. There is much to consider here, and to reconsider. Tosches has a passion for knowledge of what we call The Middle Ages; one gets the feeling that what he gives us IN THE HAND OF DANTE skims only the surface.The other track of THE HAND OF DANTE involves the quiet discovery in the Vatican of what appears to be the original manuscript of THE DIVINE COMEDY. The document is spirited away and nefariously becomes the property of a group of gentlemen that includes one Nick Tosches, an author, thief and expert on matters Dante. Another of this group is a gentleman known only as Louie, as frightening a character as one might encounter in modern fiction. He is frightening simply because there is no question that he exists and that you might encounter him, to your detriment, in the course of an innocent, unexcused brushing of shoulders some night in the Village along Sixth Avenue. This reservoir dog is one of Tosches' uneasy partners in the acquisition and verification the manuscript; as the witnesses

If the author Nick Tosches had limited this book to his dismemberment of the mass-produced and marketed mediocrities that pass for good books today, it alone would have been worth the price of the book. He thunders about the consolidation of book publishers in to what is an oligopoly, comments on the same status of the retailers of books, and mercilessly flays authors that routinely occupy the top of the bestseller lists. My favorite part of his varied condemnations is when he directs his spotlight on those persons who have placed their name upon book clubs, and by choosing a book guaranty its financial success. Some I am sure will find his characterizations vulgar and overly vicious. I found them to be dead on accurate. The entire phenomenon of a celebrity with absolutely no credibility for commenting on a book doing so, and thus placing the book immediately on the top of countless reader's lists of books they must read, is and always has been pathetic. When one hostess of a talk show recently withdrew after stating she could no longer find books that were worthy of a recommendation, she confirmed two facts. The first was that she had no business ever suggesting anything to anyone, and secondly, when her most recently anointed author stated he did not want her name on his book, her towering ego shattered.Nick Tosches is qualified to trash the homogenization of commercial publishing and the garbage it prints, for unlike those who make a living criticizing that which they cannot begin to replicate, this man can and does so with ease. He moves from thrashing an industry and its products to writing with style and competence that is all but gone, buried by a dozen or so authors who are guaranteed to sell a pile of books regardless of the quality of writing. He includes a letter that he wrote to his agent/publisher that is as blistering an indictment of fools that I have read.Once the book moves to the story of Dante struggling with what would be his masterpiece, the author demands a great deal of his readers. He does not make the reading easy, nor does he hold the reader's hand with word for word translations of a variety of languages. This is most appropriate, for were he have taken the opposite tack, he would have been guilty of another fault of mediocre writers, using language they barely understand, and rarely even translate. Language is used as makeup, improving the appearance where there is no substance, just ugliness.Those who pick up this work hoping for a race around the globe with stolen manuscripts and characters of the shadiest demeanor will be sorely disappointed. This is a wonderfully detailed book of the exploration of truth in the pursuit of knowledge, and eventually of writing. The rants, and disgusting human beings that are described outside of this central tale, are wonderful, and at times vile. If as the jacket of the book suggests, as a reader you might be offended, there is little in this book you will not hear leaching from car