Dante's Inferno

Book Description

A faithful yet totally original contemporary spin on a classic, Dante's Inferno as interpreted by acclaimed artist Sandow Birk and writer Marcus Sanders is a journey through a Hell that bears an eerie semblance to our own world. Birk, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as one of "realism's edgier, more visionary painters," offers extraordinarily nuanced and vivid illustrations inspired by Gustave Dore's famous engravings. This modern interpretation depicts an infernal landscape infested with mini-malls, fast food restaurants, ATMs, and other urban fixtures, and a text that cleverly incorporates urban slang and references to modern events and people (as Dante did in his own time). Previously published in a deluxe, fine-press edition to wide praise, and accompanied by national exhibitions, this striking paperback edition of Dante's Inferno is a genuinely provocative and insightful adaptation for a new generation of readers.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent shape.......2007-08-04

The book is of brand new condition as advertized...content of book is mystical very good reading...

Medieval vision of the afterlife.......2007-05-01

This was required reading for a graduate course in medieval history.
Dante Alighieri's (1265-1321) "Devine Comedy" weaved together aspects of biblical and classical Greek literary traditions to produce one of the most important works of not only medieval literature, but also one of the great literary works of Western civilization. The full impact of this 14,000-line poem divided into 100 cantos and three books is not just literary. Dante's autobiographical poem Commedia, as he titled it, was his look into the individual psyche and human soul. He explored and reflected on such fundamental questions as political institutions and their problems, the nature of humankind's moral actions, and the possibility of spiritual transformation; these were all fundamental social and cultural concerns for people during the fourteenth-century. Dante wrote the Commedia not in Latin but in the Tuscan dialect of Italian so that it would reach a broader readership. The Commedia was a three-part journey undertaken by the pilgrim Dante to the realms of the Christian afterlife: Hell, (Inferno), Purgatory, (Purgatorio), and Paradise, (Paradisio).

The poem narrated in first person, began with Dante lost midlife. He was 35 years old in the year 1300 and in a dark wood. Being lost in the dark wood was certainly an allegorical device that Dante used to express the condition of his own life at the time he started writing the poem. Dante had been active in Florentine politics and a member of the White Guelph party who opposed the secular rule of Pope Boniface VIII over Florence. In 1302, The Black Guelphs who were allied with the Pope, were militarily victorious in gaining control of the city and Dante found himself an exile from his beloved city for the rest of his life. Thus, Dante started writing the Commedia in 1308 and used it to comment on his own tribulations of life, and to state his views on politics and religion, and heap scorn on his political enemies.

Dante's first leg of his journey out of the dark wood was through the nine concentric circles of Hell (Inferno), escorted by his favorite classical Roman poet Virgil, author of the Aeneid. Dante borrowed heavily from Virgil's Aeneid. Much of Dante's description of hell had similarities to Virgil's description in his sixth book of the Aeneid. Dante's three major divisions of sin in hell where unrepentant sinners dwelled, had their sources in Aristotle and Augustinian philosophy. They were self-indulgence, violence, and fraud. Fraud was considered the worst of moral failures because it undermined family, trust, and religion; in essence, it tore at the moral fabric of civilized society. These divisions were inversions of the classical virtues of moderation, courage, and wisdom. The fourth classical virtue, justice, is what Dante came to believe after his journey through hell that all its inhabitants received for their unrepentant sins. There were nine concentric circles of hell inside the earth; each smaller than the previous one. For Dante the geography of hell was a moral geography as well as a physical one, reflecting the nature of the sin. Canto IV describes the first circle of hell, Limbo, which is where Dante met the shades, as souls where called, of the virtuous un-baptized such as Homer, Ovid, Caesar, Aristotle, and Plato.

In the four circles for the sin of self-indulgence Dante met shades who where lustful, gluttons, hoarders and wrathful. In the second circle of Hell, lustful souls were blown around in a violent storm. In Canto V, one of the great dramatic moments of the poem, Dante had his first lengthy encounter with an unrepentant sinner Francesca da Rimini, who committed adultery with her brother-in-law. Like all the sinners in hell, Francesca laid the blame for her sin elsewhere. She claimed to be seduced into committing adultery after reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. At the end of the scene, Dante fainted out of pity for Francesca.

In Canto X, the sixth circle of hell reserved for heretics who are punished by being trapped in flaming tombs, Dante took the opportunity to use the circle to chastise political leaders for participating in political partisanship. A Florentine who was a leader in the rival Ghibbelline political party, Farinata degli Uberti, accosted Dante. Both men aggressively argued with each other, recreating in hell the bitterness of partisan politics in Florence. Farinata predicted Dante's exile. Dante used this Canto to show the dangerous tendencies of petty political partisanship that he harbored.

The seventh circle of hell was subdivided into three areas where sinners were punished for doing violence against themselves, their neighbors, or God. In Canto XIII Dante encountered Pier della Vigne in the wood of the suicides. The shades there were shrubs who had to speak through a broken branch. Pier spoke to Dante about how he had been an important advisor to Emperor Frederick II, and how he blamed his fall, and his suicide, on the envy of other court members. This Canto was especially important because Dante came to grips with his own "future" fall from political power and exile. Pier's behavior served as a strong example to Dante how not to act in exile. Whether he had been tempted to commit suicide is not clear; however, he certainly had been prone to the selfish and despairing attitude that Pier represented.

The last two circles of hell contained the sinners of fraud. In the eighth circle, there were ten ditches for the various types of fraud such as Simony, thievery, hypocrisy, etc. Canto XIX described the third ditch, which contained those guilty of Simony, the sin of church leaders perverting their spiritual office by buying and selling church offices. Simonists were buried upside down in a rock with their feet on fire. Pope Nicholas III mistakenly addressed Dante as Pope Boniface VIII who was the current Pope in 1300, and whose place in hell was thereby predicted. This is not surprising since Boniface was the person most responsible for Dante's exile. In an interesting literary twist, Nicholas "confessed" to Dante, as if he was a priest, his sin of greed and nepotism. He admitted that even after becoming Pope he cared more for his family's interests than the good of the whole Church. Dante responded to Nicholas' "confession" with a stinging condemnation of Simony drawn from the Book of Revelation. After this encounter, Dante came to understand that hell was a place of justice.

Canto XXXIV, the last one in the Inferno, depicted Satan with three heads. Each head was chewing the three worst sinners of humankind. The middle head was chewing on the head of Judas Iscariot, who was a disciple to Jesus and his betrayer. The other two heads were chewing Brutus and Cassius; the murderers of Julius Caesar, and the two men Dante faulted for the destruction of a unified Italy. Dante considered the two ultimate betrayals against God and against the empire as the worst betrayals perpetrated in the history of humankind.

Thus, Dante's intent in his Commedia was to teach fourteenth-century readers that if one wanted to ascend spiritually towards God then one needed to learn the nature of sin from the unrepentant. By doing this, one could learn to overcome the same tendencies found in themselves. He wanted people to realize what he had come to learn that political partisanship would only stand in the way of unifying Italy and keep it from regaining any of its former glory that it enjoyed during the time of the Roman Empire.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in literature and medieval history.

Dante's Inferno by Sandow Bonk.......2006-08-10

It is an up-dated version; but as far as I can tell it has kept the 'feel" of the origional

Dont waste your money: get Dores pics and Musas translation.......2005-12-26

Im a fan of Dante. I've read a couple of translations, and as admirer of graphic art, I've always thourght that Dore's illustrations were classics.

I truly wanted to like this version. I'm from California, and I thought a surfer version could be witty and charming. But I was disappointed:

Fact: this is not a translation. The authors merely read other english translations, then rewrote the text in plain english, adding occasional contemporary references (Jason Blair, Dr. Laura) and obscenities.

Fact: The illustrations demonstrate the skill of junior-high school doodles. Not even close to Dore, or other book illustrators like Rockwell Kent or Tenniel.

I understand that tastes vary. But these pictures are downright awful. The reason they've been gotten some attention is that the pictures are set in urban settings (L.A., San Francisco, New York). How many times does Birk rely on McDonalds golden arches to get a chuckle? I lost track at 6. It was funny the first time.

Clearly, these authors had an outstanding publicist who got this book mentioned in prominently, and it has caught on to a limited extent. The book jacket repeatedly mentions the art gallery showings of Birk's graphic work, so I'm guessing this book was written mostly to promote sales of his artwork.

But if you are searching to buy a copy of Dante, get Musa's translation (very readable) and Dore's illustrations (timeless).

The Birk/Sanders version may be trendy in 2005, but it will soon fade into obscurity.

High school English Reading.......2005-09-13

This book was required reading in High school Senior English-language arts class. The school had bought books but did not have enough books for students to take home. My son liked the illustrations and said it has helped him review and understand the parts of the book they read at school. Other students in the same class have also used this book.

The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatory - Paradise (Naxos AudioBooks)

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Seeing, hearing, believing Dante
Wonderful Performance

The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatory - Paradise (Naxos AudioBooks)
Dante Alighieri
Manufacturer: Naxos Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 962634315X
Release Date: 2004-11-30

Customer Reviews:

Seeing, hearing, believing Dante.......2007-01-09

This audiobook is a remarkably good addition for the individual who enjoys good literature well read. Superb production values, an excellent reader/actor who imbues the material with accurate intonation and enunciation, cadence, and modulation, makes this one a gem. If you are spending your money wisely, you cannot go wrong with this NAXOS production. This one will be listened to many times. I even purchased the translation in hardcopy to pay closer attention to the reading.

Wonderful Performance.......2006-05-14

This is a wonderful performance of the entire Divine Comedy which one can listen to many times. The reader, Heathecoate Williams, must be some sort of an actor -- full throated furious at times, pale and poignant at others as he wends his way through it all, mimicking all the saints and sinners like a mockingbird. Each of the 100 cantos is prefaced by a short suggestion of period music for a breather and for atmosphere, which does not intrude or ham up the performance, as often happens with similar efforts.

Shameless drama of Williams' variety may be embarrassing to some, out of style to others. But it supplies an important element lacking to the rather dry academic fashion by which most are these days exposed to Dante. Nor is any accuracy of meaning sacrificed thereby. The three parts of the Comedy are all read from a prose translation by a man named Benedict Flynn. I am not aware that this translation is available anywhere in print, but having read several English translations of Dante, the word choice is familiar and sounds properly middle of the road. Truth be told, a dramatic flair does no disservice to this very personal poem at all, which was radical in its day for being written in common vernacular. For the hearer of our language, it places Dante in the ring where he belongs: with the fully engaged Shakespeare of the history plays, not with the closet dramas of a T.S. Eliot or a Robert Lowell.

The set is well worth the price, and the bonus disc lecture on Dante's life not only adds the academic dimension, but makes the price for the whole a steal.

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso (Everyman's Library)

Average customer rating:

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso
Unbelievable!
A Many-Splendored Thing
Amazing Dante!
Pretty Good

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso (Everyman's Library)
Dante Alighieri
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679433139
Release Date: 1995-08-01

Book Description

The Divine Comedy begins in a shadowed forest on Good Friday in the year 1300. It proceeds on a journey that, in its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience, has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity.

Allen Mandelbaum’s astonishingly Dantean translation, which captures so much of the life of the original, renders whole for us the masterpiece of that genius whom our greatest poets have recognized as a central model for all poets.

This Everyman’s edition–containing in one volume all three cantos, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso–includes an introduction by Nobel Prize—winning poet Eugenio Montale, a chronology, notes, and a bibliography. Also included are forty-two drawings selected from Botticelli's marvelous late-fifteenth-century series of illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso.......2007-07-27

It's a good book, it's new and i received it in a timely manner for a really low price.

Unbelievable!.......2007-05-15

I was really pleasantly surprised by the condition of this book. I just needed a copy for a college class, so anything would have done the job, but this copy was something I will keep on my shelves forever! Good job !
BTW it got here fast, too!

A Many-Splendored Thing.......2007-05-05

The book arrived today and I am overjoyed to have it in my hands. Aside from the grandeur of Dante's masterpiece, it is quite beautiful to look at! It's an 800-page hardcover from Everyman's Library, respectfully produced, the dust-cover embellished by Botticelli's painting of the noble poet. Allen Mandelbaum's translation is a famously fine one, endorsed by such as the late, great Hugh Kenner, and I am the lucky one now able to read the entire poem.

Amazing Dante!.......2007-05-03

This is incredible! I am in love with this translation! I can read the original Italian (I am fluent), and this version is very faithful to what Dante actually wrote. Nonetheless, it is still extremely enjoyable, and I have taken much pleasure from reading this English version.

Pretty Good.......2007-04-30

This book is amazing. The way its made is perfect. I love the feel of it my hands, i just want to snuggle with it all night......the text in the book is good. It is a great copy to read, can get a little crazy with some of the archaic words, but that will make you more smart, hahaha, it also has a ribbon book mark in it, its cute......

Average customer rating:

Chthonic Boom...
Intro to Inferno
Dante for bigots?
Dante's Inferno by Mandelbaum
Great Poetry

The Inferno (Signet Classics)
Dante Alighieri
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451527984
Release Date: 2001-06-12

Book Description

Considered to be one of the greatest literary works of all time- equal only to those of Shakespeare-Dante's immortal drama of a journey through Hell is the first volume of his Divine Comedy. The remaining canticles, The Purgatorio and The Paradiso, will be published this summer in quick succession.

Customer Reviews:

Chthonic Boom..........2007-08-30

You know how some so-called "classics" suck? This isn't one of them.

Ciardi's translation is readable and fluid, and he sets up the action in each canto with a modern English preface. He also provides end-notes to each canto that explain obscure people, places, events, and choices of translation. (Various illustrations and diagrams also give a clear picture of the infernal topography and spatial structure.)

The Inferno itself is a masterpiece...one of those numinous works of literature where you catch yourself at intervals marveling at its brilliance. I wish I'd read it ten years ago.

Intro to Inferno.......2007-08-22

Translators, according to the Italian proverb are traitors.
There is no way around it, something is always lost in the
leap from one language to another. You can consult a modern
'adaptation' of Shakespeare to get the feel of what has to
be surrendered. In the end, a preference for one translation
over another is a matter of what you're most willing to lose.

John Ciardi decided to keep the original rhyme scheme: 'aba'
in which the poem is divided into groups of three lines of
which the first and third rhyme. In Italian, this is fairly
easy, in English a great deal more difficult.
So in order to keep the feel of the tercets (as they're called)
Ciardi sometimes had to stray a bit from the literal
meaning. Nothing vital is lost, but the specialist will
surely find some points to dispute.
For the rest of us, this is a first-rate view into a world
we can barely otherwise imagine. Ciardi's notes and glosses
on the cantos are breezy, illuminating and approachable.

There are other, more correct translations- Mandelbaum's
is first among them -that might be better for the specialist
or the student of the Italian Language. I notice, however,
that when I want to spend a pleasant few moments in the
Poet's company-and especially for the Inferno- that this
is the translation I usually reach for.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the novel bang BANG. ISBN 9781601640005

Dante for bigots?.......2007-04-06

Esolen is neither a Dante scholar nor an Italian language/literature specialist. He is an English Teacher at Providence College, a Catholic institution. His retelling of the Divine Comedy is reasonably accurate and quite readable. The problem comes with his notes. They range from the scandalously inadequate to the downright offensive. Esolen has written a number of anti-gay articles for religious publications . This is reflected in his notes where he refers to homosexuality as something like "that most heinous of sins". This is not only offensive in a contemporary publication, but is totally out of tune with Dante himself, who took a much more sympathetic and nuanced approach c.1300 AD. The skimpy notes manage to include other personal and inappropriate remarks.

There are many superior translations out there. Mandelbaum's is excellent and has very good notes. Robert and Jean Hollander's is also very fine and the notation is the most extensive and scholarly of all.

Dante's Inferno by Mandelbaum.......2007-01-10

This english rendition of Dante's Inferno is puts thoughtful use of the english language into the translation of this classic work. The fact that Mandelbaum translates using more literal meanings may be hard to follow at times but overall it enhances the effect of the book's moral dilemma.

Great Poetry.......2006-12-27

Dante has become one of my favorite poets. He's up there with Homer and that's kind of funny since in Limbo he is excepted in the circle of some of the greatest poets which included Homer.

This is a nice translation and the commentary is excellent. John points out certain things in the verses which you would have to have some familiarity or go and look up elsewhere to understand its significance to the poem.

In this volume Dante speaks about the nature of sin (the specific punishments helps to amplify it meaning). It also shows how the straight path (to God) is not an easy one to simply step back onto if you happen to slip because these sins (shown in hell) will be a stumbling block and hold you back (represented by the 3 creatures he meets before he has to take the hard journey through hell).

There are some memorable moments in the bowels of hell which I will not forget and Virgil (reason) is a great guide.

Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy, Volume 1, Hell) (The Divine Comedy)

Average customer rating:

Excellent Book
Medieval vision of the afterlife
Abandon hope...

Dante's Inferno (The Divine Comedy, Volume 1, Hell) (The Divine Comedy)
Dante Alighieri
Manufacturer: Digireads.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1420926381

Book Description

The "Divine Comedy" was entitled by Dante himself merely "Commedia," meaning a poetic composition in a style intermediate between the sustained nobility of tragedy, and the popular tone of elegy. The word had no dramatic implication at that time, though it did involve a happy ending. The poem is the narrative of a journey down through Hell, up the mountain of Purgatory, and through the revolving heavens into the presence of God. In this aspect it belongs to the two familiar medieval literary types of the Journey and the Vision. It is also an allegory, representing under the symbolism of the stages and experiences of the journey, the history of a human soul, painfully struggling from sin through purification to the Beatific Vision. Contained in this volume is the first part of the "Divine Comedy," the "Inferno" or "Hell," from the translation of Charles Eliot Norton.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book.......2007-07-03

I found Dante's Inferno to be in excellent shape, a great book, and plan on purchasing volumes II and III.

Medieval vision of the afterlife.......2007-05-01

Abandon hope..........2006-11-18

"Midway life's journey I was made aware/that I had strayed into a dark forest..." Those eerie words open the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's "Inferno," the most famous part of the legendary Divina Comedia. But the stuff going on here is anything but divine, as Dante explores the metaphorical and supernatural horrors of the inferno.

The date is Good Friday of the year 1300, and Dante is lost in a creepy dark forest, being assaulted by a trio of beasts who symbolize his own sins. But suddenly he is rescued ("Not man; man I once was") by the legendary poet Virgil, who takes the despondent Dante under his wing -- and down into Hell.

But this isn't a straightforward hell of flames and dancing devils. Instead, it's a multi-tiered carnival of horrors, where different sins are punished with different means. Opportunists are forever stung by insects, the lustful are trapped in a storm, the greedy are forced to battle against each other, and the violent lie in a river of boiling blood, are transformed into thorn bushes, and are trapped on a volcanic desert.

If nothing else makes you feel like being good, then "The Inferno" might change your mind. The author loads up his "Inferno" with every kind of disgusting, grotesque punishment that you can imagine -- and it's all wrapped up in an allegorical journey of humankind's redemption, not to mention dissing the politics of Italy and Florence.

Along with Virgil -- author of the "Aeneid" -- Dante peppered his Inferno with Greek myth and symbolism. Like the Greek underworld, different punishments await different sins; what's more, there are also appearances by harpies, centaurs, Cerberus and the god Pluto. But the sinners are mostly Dante's contemporaries, from corrupt popes to soldiers.

And Dante's skill as a writer can't be denied -- the grotesque punishments are enough to make your skin crawl ("Fixed in the slime, groan they, 'We were sullen and wroth...'"), and the grand finale is Satan himself, with legendary traitors Brutus, Cassius and Judas sitting in his mouths. (Yes, I said MOUTHS, not "mouth")

More impressive still is his ability to weave the poetry out of symbolism and allegory, without it ever seeming preachy or annoying. Even pre-hell, we have a lion, a leopard and a wolf, which symbolize different sins, and a dark forest that indicates suicidal thoughts. And the punishments themselves usually reflect the person's flaws, such as false prophets having their heads twisted around so they can only see what's behind them. Wicked sense of humor.

Dante's vivid writing and wildly imaginative "inferno" makes this the most fascinating, compelling volume of the Divine Comedy. Never fun, but always spellbinding and complicated.

The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno (Penguin Classics)

Average customer rating:

Abandon hope...
Readable translation
Medieval vision of the afterlife
Wow
One of the most thought provoking I've read yet...

The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno (Penguin Classics)
Dante Alighieri
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142437220

Book Description

This vigorous translation of the poet's journey through the circles of hell re-creates for the modern reader the rich meanings that Dante's poem had for his contemporaries. Musa's introduction and commentaries on each of the cantos brilliantly illuminate the text.

Translated with Notes and an Introduction by Mark Musa

Download Description

This timeless Christian allegory has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery fo its own identity. In the Inferno, the first of the Comedy's three parts, Dante is conducted by the spirit of the classical poet Virgil through the nine circles of Hell on the initial stage of his arduous journey toward God.

Customer Reviews:

Abandon hope..........2007-10-04

Readable translation.......2007-08-23

A lovely, readable, blank verse translation. The notes are helpful, but not so overwhelming as to detract from the poetry of the text. I'd highly recommend to any reader.

Medieval vision of the afterlife.......2007-05-01

Wow.......2007-02-12

Mr. Musa writes a nice translation of a tough work, and even more challenging topic. I recommend.

One of the most thought provoking I've read yet..........2006-11-12

While browsing through the local bookstore, one cannot help but to be bombarded with at least 5 different published versions of this wonderous story.
'The Divine Comedy' by Dante Aligheri sets in motion the journey of a pilgrim through the nine layers of hell. Accompanying him is his guide, none other then the famous poet Virgil. While he accends down into the depths, each layer has a character with a story to be told. To be honest, I had flipped through this book before and found in daunting. Set up in 'Canto' form, the book is split in 34 chapers. I was pleasently surprised to see that I had been very wrong. This book has opened up new ideas to me, and made me think of religion and the philosophy of life in a way I never thought of before. The Inferno is a very descriptive story that will not leave you unsatisfied.

The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation, Bilingual Edition

Average customer rating:

Medieval vision of the afterlife
Abandon hope
Infernal Translating
Best book I've ever read
touring Hell in cargo pants

The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation, Bilingual Edition
Dante
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0374525315

Amazon.com

The one quality that all classic works of literature share is their timelessness. Shakespeare still plays in Peoria 400 years after his death because the stories he dramatized resonate in modern readers' hearts and minds; methods of warfare have changed quite a bit since the Trojan War described by Homer in his Iliad, but the passions and conflicts that shaped such warriors as Achilles, Agamemnon, Patroclus, and Odysseus still find their counterparts today on battlefields from Bosnia to Afghanistan. Likewise, a little travel guide to hell written by the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri in the 13th century remains in print at the end of the 20th century, and it continues to speak to new generations of readers. There have been countless translations of the Inferno, but this one by poet Robert Pinsky is both eloquent and tailored to our times.

Yes, this is an epic poem, but don't let that put you off. An excellent introduction provides context for the work, while detailed notes on each canto are a virtual who's who of 13th-century Italian politics, culture, and literature. Best of all, Pinsky's brilliant translation communicates the horror, despair, and terror of hell with such immediacy, you can almost smell the sulfur and feel the heat from the rain of fire as Dante--led by his faithful guide Virgil--descends lower and lower into the pit. Dante's journey through Satan's kingdom must rate as one of the great fictional travel tales of all time, and Pinsky does it great justice.

Book Description

This widely praised version of Dante's masterpiece, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award of the Academy of American Poets, is more idiomatic and approachable than its many predecessors. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Pinsky employs slant rhyme and near rhyme to preserve Dante's terza rima form without distorting the flow of English idiom. The result is a clear and vigorous translation that is also unique, student-friendly, and faithful to the original: "A brilliant success," as Bernard Knox wrote in The New York Review of Books.

Customer Reviews:

Medieval vision of the afterlife.......2007-05-01

Abandon hope.......2007-01-11

Infernal Translating.......2006-11-11

The Inferno of Dante is undoubtedly a book worth reading because of its historical influence and impressive poetry, but without a skilled translator the meaning or poetic form is lost. Robert Pinsky manages to find a perfect balance between Dante's message and style. Combined with notes that explain Dante's many historical references, this balance allows The Inferno of Dante to continue to be a great piece of literature. In order to maintain the necessary balance between Dante's message and style, Robert Pinsky uses a looser form of rhyming than most people use. He rhymes leads with sides and defer with there. Although these may not rhyme as well as heat and sheet, they have enough in common that they are able to demonstrate the rhythm of the tertiary rhyme in The Inferno of Dante. Pinsky's loose rhyming gives him more choices, which allow him to better preserve Dante's message.
This message, however, would be lost on today's readers if it were not for notes that help further translate the meaning of events within The Inferno of Dante. Most of the characters Dante meets along his journey have long been forgotten by the average reader. How many people would understand the significance of the name Bocca? Upon hearing this Dante says, "I have no further need to speak with you" (Pinsky 347). This leaves the reader completely clueless as to who Bocca was. This is remedied by using the notes Pinsky provides in his translation. These notes tell the reader that Bocca betrayed his party in battle causing their defeat (Pinsky 423).
This extra information is essential to Robert Pinsky's translation, which retains the amazing rhythm, beauty, and message that Dante designed.

Works Cited
Dante. The Inferno of Dante. Trans. Robert Pinsky. New York: Farrar, Straus, and

Giroux, 1994.

Best book I've ever read.......2005-12-31

Ignore any negative reviews of this translation of Dante's Inferno. The only negative thing I can say is, after reading Pinsky's translation of Inferno, the non-Pinsky translations of Purgatorio and Paradiso were not so interesting by comparison (Mr. Pinsky! Please! Translate the other two books!).

Pinsky is a former U.S. Poet Laureate, so the few people here who bashed his work are in the minority.

Forget the boring rules of poetry you learned in high school. Read the introduction/prologue in which Pinsky explains the type of poetry Dante used and how Pinsky chose to follow that method. I then suggest you read the whole book twice. Read it once, stopping to check the end notes so you will know who the characters are and their importance in history, and their relevance to the story. Then read it again, with just an expectation of pure enjoyment.

Also, ignore the expectations of meter your high school teacher may have taught you (like mine did). Just read and follow punctutation, rather than the ends of the lines.

Doing these things allowed me to more fully enjoy Inferno, and I still marvel at the literary beauty produced some 700 years ago.

touring Hell in cargo pants.......2005-09-22

Pinsky has alighted on the translation solution that will eventually give rise to the definitive English Dante. Rather than forgo ryme altogether or force his English into perfect terza-rima, Pinsky employs slant rhyme. Pinsky calls his version Yeatsean, but of course other poets have embraced slant rhyme to great effect--Dickinson stands out for me.

But reading Pinsky's "Translator's Note" prepares you for the failings of his translation. For he has also aimed for a more compressed version, one with more enjambment, to convey something of Dante's own compression and, I suppose, swiftness. The problem arises in the very first tercet, where Dante spends three full lines on waking up lost in that dark wood. Pinsky dispenses with those lines in 18 syllables, then interrupts Dante's startling recollection at the end of the second line to rush the next tercet into the first one. The enjambent conceals the slant rhyme, mooting Pinsky's otherwise brilliant poetic solution, and also shucks the essential weight of Dante's opening. It reads like a prose translation, embarrased by even its own of-rhymes (which are actually a great idea!) and blasting through Dante's thought without recognizing Dante's own choices about end-stopping his thoughts more frequently. Unless English is 20 percent more efficient than Italian, or translators care for sense at the exclusion of the original's poetics, this book disappoints.

And it's a swift, compressed opening even at three full lines. Three lines--just three--for Dante to depict himself as spiritually waylaid: further compression simply detracts, and it dishonors the poem's already admirable economy, not just its efficiency but also how it chooses to spend each tercet, the careful filing of each one with this step or that in his journey, or to run over into the next tercet.

Pinsky's is a bilingual translation, allowing you to just visually register how much more ready he is than Dante to break Dante's thoughts before the end of a line and start Dante's next phrase or sentence with two or three or four syllables left. All that enjambment is perfectly natural to English poetry, maybe even to Italian, but the facing-page presentation of Dante's actual words reveal that Dante employed rhyme togeth with the regular ryhthm of the line-endings to generally honor his rhetoric.

That compression, by the way, makes most of the cantos radically shorter than Dante's own verse. Canto after canto is 20 to 30 lines short of Dante's Italian, and when a Canto is maybe 120 or 130 lines long, the translation becomes more like a discount version of Dante than an English Dante. Allen Mandelbaum, who translates into blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), offers the poem the dignity Dante's Italian merits. You can use the facing page Italian to see that. Dope out what those latinate words obviously mean, and see how much reordering and reduction Pinsky offers--here turning a descriptive phrase into a single adjective, there shrinking a long appositive or subordinate clause.

Pinsky's diction is more fluent, more readily grasped than other translations, but it often feels off-hand, hasty, artless, undramatic--a tour of Hell in cargo pants. The story still conveys its tone, but mostly through incident, not via Pinsky's poetry.

Average customer rating:

latin? please.
Great to a point
A Cliff Note review?!?!
Great peice of literature, very well written poetry

Divine Comedy: Inferno (Cliffs Notes)
James L. Roberts , and Nikki Moustaki
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764586548

Book Description

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer a look into critical elements and ideas within classic works of literature. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

CliffsNotes on Divine Comedy: Inferno takes you deep inside Dante's vision of Hell, the first installment in his three-poem epic.

Following the spiritual journey of Dante and his guide Virgil, this expert study companion provides summaries, commentaries, and glossaries related to each canto within the poem. Other features that help you figure out this important work include

Life and background of the poet and the poem
Introduction to the poem's structure, allegory, symbols, and more
Critical essays that explore deeper meanings within this challenging work
A review section that tests your knowledge and suggests essay topics and practice projects
A Resource Center full of books, translations, and Internet resources

Classic literature or modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Customer Reviews:

latin? please........2002-11-05

Readers, please note: The two people who gave this negative reviews thought that The Inferno was written in Latin. It wasn't. Clearly, they read neither the Cliff's Note nor the book. Silly to write a review of a book that you know nothing about!

Great to a point.......2002-06-22

Great help but to much opinion. (lol) Let's just say I read this more than I read the book due to time restraints. This cliff's notes does help and I would recommend to anyone that is having problems understanding Dante's Inferno (a great book also!)

A Cliff Note review?!?!.......2000-12-30

Well, it's odd to write a review for a set of Cliff Notes, but I'll make an exception in this case. People often equate buying Cliff Notes with kids who have to read a book and want to actually get OUT of reading the book. However, I bought Dante's Divine Comedy: The Inferno for leisure reading (actually I like the theological implications that Dante ponders in the writing of his poem) and the Cliff Notes have become quite useful. The Notes start out with a general background of Dante, giving a mini biography of the author. Throughout this sketch they allude to a number of instances in his life which will come into play in his work The Divine Comedy. They then go on with an overall synposis of The Inferno. After that they go into a full-out commentary on the work itself.

I picked up the Cliff Notes at the same time I bought my copy of The Divine Comedy. Why? Well, I didn't want to miss a thing. I read for fun, but I also try with the books I truly enjoy, to read critically. Knowing that the copy of The Inferno was actually a translation from the latin meant that since I cannot read latin, that there would be certain nuances of the language that I may miss out on when reading it in english. Hence, I am relying on the Cliff Notes (which I read AFTER I finish a particular section) to point out these instances to me. I can then go back and re-read the section and gain the deeper insight into the poem itself. Used as a supplement (not as the source itself, which unfortunately happens with many users of Cliff Notes) this has proven to be a nice tool. It is by no means absolutely necessary (my copy of The Inferno comes with its own commentary... I have the Bantam issue of Dante's Divine Comedy) but it is nice to have on hand when there are sections that are a bit 'heavy'. I will not go into the book itself here in this review, since this is the Cliff Notes, but instead I'll tackle that in a review of the book itself. Overall, I think the Cliff Notes are a nice addition, something to have next to the armchair when reading the actual book. The only downside... the Cliff Notes cost almost as much ($4.95) as the book itself ($5.95).

Great peice of literature, very well written poetry.......1999-10-19

An awesome book that tells about Dante's trip through Hell, with a very famous guide named Virgil. Not exactly docternal, but good imagination. He incorperates many of the people he knew, or who were famous then into the story. It makes you want to learn Latin so you can read it without translation.

Average customer rating:

Hell of a book
Good translation by a master poet
Longfellow's and other translations
The Longfellow Translation of Inferno

Inferno: The Longfellow Translation
Dante
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812967216
Release Date: 2003-02-04

Book Description

In 1867, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow completed the first American translation of Inferno and thus introduced Dante’s literary genius to the New World. In the Inferno, the spirit of the classical poet Virgil leads Dante through the nine circles of Hell on the initial stage of his journey toward Heaven. Along the way Dante encounters and describes in vivid detail the various types of sinners in the throes of their eternal torment.

Customer Reviews:

Hell of a book.......2007-03-29

This a a great companion for Pearl's Dante Club. Keep it close by.

Good translation by a master poet.......2006-07-15

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is the man most responsible for bringing Dante to the new world, where The Divine Comedy had long been held as superstitious Catholic hogwash by the largely Protestant population that settled here. In translating the Comedy and bringing into respectable circles in the United States, Longfellow not only reintroduced a great poet to a lost audience but created a great translation himself.

Longfellow's is not the best translation of Dante's work, but it is one of the finest as a poem in its own right. The language is stilted and difficult at times to the modern ear, but its tone and grandeur are perfect for capturing the vision of the world's greatest poet. This is a good introduction to Dante for the student and the casual reader alike. Longfellow's notes are good, but not great. Look to another edition, like Mark Musa's or Charles Singleton's, for more extensive notes.

Highly recommended.

Longfellow's and other translations.......2006-05-09

I'd just like to point out that notwithstanding the reviewer below, Longefellow was not the first to do an English translation of Dante. That was Rev. Henry Cary's black verse version, published 1810 (?). Readers who are looking for accuracy should check out John Singleton's prose translation with extensive commentary, but in my opinion Longfellow's version is the most satisfying overall. In only makes sense: Longfellow had the most innate talent of all Dante's English translators (at least that I've read).

The Longfellow Translation of Inferno.......2005-08-23

I have read and taught several different translations of Dante's Inferno, but I was not aware that Longfellow had been the first to translate it into English. Although it is not written in Terza Rima, it is a beautiful, flowing and elegant rendition of Dante the Pilgrim's descent through the nine levels of hell. I teach Inferno in college, and although my books are ordered for this semester, I intend use the Longfellow translation for the next course.

Inferno (Modern Library Series) - English translation

Average customer rating:

Ciardi's translation is truly striking
Best translation I've encountered
A Classic that needs Modernization
Deceivingly not for everybody, but really should be.
Ciardi's the Best

Inferno (Modern Library Series) - English translation
Dante
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679602097
Release Date: 1996-10-15

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Ciardi's translation is truly striking.......2004-08-29

Ciardi's translation of Dante's Inferno is one of the very best. Its major strength is the intensity and power of its language. Although the translation is now more than fifty years old, it remains fresh, unencumbered by archaisms. Ciardi is a poet and it shows. I found myself more stunned by the horrors of hell in this translation than any other I've seen. Chills ran down my spine as I read about Count Ugolino encased in the ice.

This edition includes a plot summary before each canto, and footnotes telling you which dead Florentine did what after each canto. For the first-time reader, these are truly helpful -- indeed, essential.

Unlike most translators who completely abandon the idea of making Dante rhyme in English, Ciardi preserves a partial rhyme scheme. The first and third lines of each tercet rhyme, while the middle rhyme is dropped. While Ciardi's translation is reasonably faithful to the original, he had to take minor liberties with the text to make it rhyme. The excellent Musa and Hollander translations are more literal and straightforward, and the Hollander version comes in a handy bilingual edition if you want to try your hand at reading Dante's incredible Italian. Still, the best poetic translation of the Inferno in English remains Ciardi's.

Best translation I've encountered.......2001-07-26

Absolutely excellent. Ciardi's description of the Canto, and the actual translated text followed by his notes helped me disect and understand Inferno better than anyone's translation to date.

There are suppositions, where Ciardi does his best to determine or even guess what Dante's intentions where with phrases and descriptions. This is not by any means a negative attribute of his efforts. Any speculation is clearly stated, and determined using history, Greek mythology, and Dante's political entanglements at the time of his writings.

This is a copy worth collecting. Too bad Random House has discontinued both Pergatorio and Paradisio in hard cover though...hard to find.

A Classic that needs Modernization.......1999-07-29

No doubt one of the best works of literature known to us. Although influenced by the events of his day, Dante would have made a great writer and thinker in our time. My dream is to write a follow-up to Dante's "Divine Comedy" using events since the time of Dante, and presenting more subjective views of religion and the afterlife. I plan to start this project in the near future and who knows how long before it's completion........could be years. I think this would be a novel idea and I have yet to see any other such modern day works.

Deceivingly not for everybody, but really should be........1999-01-22

Compared to most modern stories about the afterlife, Dante's "Divine Comedy" actually has some punch and originaity to it! The writing is also incredible and you could choke on the symbolism. If you can stand the heat, come on in the kitchen!

Ciardi's the Best.......1998-08-24

There's no doubt about it...Ciardi's is the best translation of the haunting and powerful poem about the medieval view of God's divine plan. Ciardi dumps archaisms and goes for the throat of Dante's poetry and meaning. You'll never touch another translation after you read this!

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