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Product Description
Translated by H.F. Cary, this Wordsworth Edition includes an exclusive Introduction by Claire Honess.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) is one of the most important and innovative figures of the European Middle Ages. Writing his Comedy (the epithet 'Divine' was added by later admirers) in exile from his native Florence, he aimed to address a world gone astray both morally and politically. At the same time, he sought to push back the restrictive rules which traditionally governed writing in the Italian vernacular, to produce a radically new and all-encompassing work.
The Comedy tells the story of the journey of a character who is at one and the same time both Dante himself and Everyman. In the Inferno, Dante's protagonist - and his reader - is presented with a graphic vision of the dreadful consequences of sin, and encounters an all-too-human array of noble, grotesque, beguiling, ridiculous and horrific characters.
About the Author
Dante Alighieri is known as Italy's greatest poet, whose 'Divine Comedy' has enduring popularity today.
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145 of 166 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
this is the cheapest version of Dante available. The original translation dates from the middle of the last century, it is nonsense on every level and being popular once is no excuse. Here are the first seven lines to give you an idea.
In the midway of this our mortal life, I found me in a gloomy wood, astray Gone from the path direct: and e'en to tell It were no easy task, how savage wild That forest, how robust and rough its growth, Which to remember only, my dismay Renews, in bitterness not far from death.
This is rubbish in English and has only a slight connection with the original. Ther are several marvellous versions out there. Avoid both the Penguin versions, by Sayers and Musa, they have enough faults to choke on. For monolingual versions I recommend. The Divine Comedy translated by C.H. Sisson. World's classics. A great poet translating a greater. The Divine Comedy translated by Allen Mandelbaum Everyman's Library. A good poet, very clean and clear translation, excellent notesand commentaries, and a beautiful book to cap it all with lots of Botticelli drawings. The Divine Comedy translated by Peter Dale.Anvil Press. Metrically strict but surprisingly accurate. Better still buy one of the bilingual version, Dante is easy to get to read.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When we mention the Christian vision of hell, the first images what comes into your mind is sinners getting poked with pitchforks by Demons and Satan sitting on a throne. But, the way Dante puts it in his book will surely take away that view and change it with something even more shocking. This book will definitely be the best one you have ever brought.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Audacious journey
31 Jan 2002
Format:Hardcover
This is a review of the Nicholas Kilmer 1985 translation, illustrated by Benjamin Martinez.
There have been over 700 years of commentary on this classic, so I won't add anything original here. On the web search for "Dartmouth Dante Project" and you will find many. The reading is helped by added commentary, for example understanding the role of Beatrice or Francesca as heroine. The Dorothy Sayers translation offers more background information. The audaciousness of the poet to enter this realm of Biblical themes is remarkable, as his ability to garner sympathy for some of the sinners, such as Ugolino. Its fun to think where Dante would have placed some of today's public figures. Kilmer's translation is clear and straightforward, fairly modern sounding. For example contrast Kilmers(from Cantos XXiv):
Quicker than I cross t, dot i,
he kindled, burned, and falling down,
was completely changed to ashes
versus Sayers:
Never did writer with a single dash
Of the pen write "o" or "i" so swift as he
Took fire, and burned, and crumbled way to ash.
After I read the poem, I studied the dark illustrations by Benjamin Martinez and they present another view of the journey.
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