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Mandelbaum's translation of this poetic masterpiece soars Nov 24, 2002 (49 of 66 found this helpful)
Dante Alighieri's three part epic The Divine Comedy ranks highly among the literature of the world. Written in early Italian and rhymed in terza rima, it's 100 cantos display impressive allegory and use of scholastic philosophy. In INFERNO, the first volume, the narrator finds himself "half of our life's way" (around 35 years old) and lost in a forest at night. When day breaks, three savage animals bar his escape. The Roman poet Virgil (best known for his AENEID) appears and tells him that Heaven has sent him to lead Dante through Hell, Purgatory, and finally Heaven to bring him out of his spiritual malaise.
Dante's Hell differs from the traditional view of everyone together amongst flames. Here the dead receive different punishments based on their sins. Thus, the lustful are caught up eternally in a whirlwind, and astrologers and magicians have their heads reversed (so those who tried to fortell the future can only see their past). Nowhere, however, does anything seem wrong. The dead are placed into Hell not by an unjust God, but by their own decisions and actions. INFERNO is a slow beginning, most of the grace and beauty of the Comedy lies in the subsequent volumes, PURGATORIO and PARADISO. However, this first volume has a solid role in the allegorical significance of the Comedy. Dante wrote not just a simple story of quasi-science fiction, but a moving allegory of the soul moving from perdition to salvation, the act which the poet T.S. Eliot called "Mounting the saint's stair". While INFERNO may occasionally lack excitement on the first reading, the next two volumes thrill and upon reading them one can enjoy INFERNO to the fullest.
I believe that the best translation of INFERNO to get is that of Allen Mandelbaum, which is published by Bantam (ISBN: 0553213393). Mandelbaum's verse translation melds a faithful rendering of the Italian with excellent poetry, and has been praised by numerous scholars of Dante, including Irma Brandeis. Here's an example from Canto XIII, where the poet and Virgil enter a forest where the trees are the souls of suicides:
"No green leaves in that forest, only black;
no branches straight and smooth, but knotted, gnarled;
no fruits were there, but briars bearing poison"
Mandelbaum's translation also contains an interesting introduction by Mandelbaum, extensive notes (which are based on the California Lectura Dantis), and two afterwords. The first of these, "Dante in His Age" is an enlightening biography of Dante and how he came to write the Comedy while in exile. The second "Dante as Ancient and Modern" examines Dante both as a wielder of classical knowledge and as a poet working in a new and distinctly late-Medieval style (the "dolce stil nuovo") which broke poetry out of the grip of Latin and made it something for people of every class.
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Journey to deep down under Apr 7, 2000 (27 of 28 found this helpful)
Don't read Dante for his fame, don't judge The Inferno for its subject. Instead, savor Dante's overpowering language that is cleverly winded around one of life's most daunting matter-Hell. Pervaded with vivid and often gruesome imageries, Inferno captures the very essence of suffering through Dante's unqiue understanding of religion with a blend of paganism and christianity. Also it's a thrilling ride down the underworld to be met by history's greatest souls. The notes before every Canto is crucially helpful in helping readers keeping up with ancient historical references. And feeling yourself penetrating the Nine Circles of Hell in the company of Dante and Vergil, you will surely catch a rare taste of the living value as Vergil guides curious eyes down a path where judgment befalls every single flaw of human nature. Perhaps, just perhaps you will attain a better sense of your existence once matched against the standards of Nine Circles designed for different sins. I call that a gripping journey.
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The Cream of The Crop Dec 16, 2002 (14 of 14 found this helpful)
First let me say that i am 13 years old; however, my favorite thing to do is to sit down with a good book and read for a good 2 to 5 hours. I have read books like For Whom The Bell Tolls and To Kill A Mockingbird. I heard about the inferno from one of my teachers who said that I should read it when I get to college or to my seinor year in high school. Well I didn't want to wait that long so I came to this site and purchased this book. It changed my life, never before have I read anything like it. When I finished this book I went and read other translations of it. However, this one was by far the best. It captured every aspect of Dante's genious writing and put it into american coming the closest to the real version as possible. Notes also help to decipher and understand Dante's masterpiece. I would recommend this book to anyone who can read.
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A Beautiful Translation and Informative Endnotes Nov 5, 2004 (14 of 20 found this helpful)
Dante's _Inferno_ is truly one of the most fascinating and riveting epic poems of all time. This edition of the _Inferno_, translated by Durling Martinez, is wonderful, jam-packed with all sorts of extras that lend itself to study and careful examination. The Italian verse and English prose translation mirror each other on each page and Martinez's translation is extremely user-friendly, allowing the reader to get caught up in the emotion of Dante's powerful masterpiece without trying to observe the strict meter requirements of the original.
In addition to the Italian text, Martinez provides copious amounts of end notes to each Canto. The only shame is that they are presented as end notes and not as footnotes, forcing the reader to thumb back and forth frequently while reading. Many of them are so interesting and helpful that it would have been useful to be able to access them with more ease. That being said, however, once you see the size and length of the end notes, you will understand while they have been given their own section.
On top of all of the end notes, providing the historical and literary context for all of Dante's allusions, this edition also include illustrations, including one showing the organization of Hell, and sixteen short essays that focus on various aspects of the _Inferno_. At over 650 pages long, this edition is a serious one and is best used for serious study rather than a book to shove in your pocket for pleasure reading. But if you desire to delve into the _Inferno_, this edition is fantastic for its amount of scholarship and user-friendliness. I highly recommend this edition for any fan of Dante and anyone approaching the _Inferno_ for the first time.
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What the Hell? Nov 29, 2001 (12 of 14 found this helpful)
600 years and I'm the first to review it?
Okay, maybe just the first to review this paperback edition.
Having read my fair share of classic literature, this is the first time I've read the poetic technique of storytelling (haven't read any Homer yet either).
I gather from the translator's note and the Introduction that Ciardi's departure from the original, strict three line rhyme gave him more freedom to translate Dante's spirit and intent of the journey through Hell and make it an easier read for the typical reader (like me) than other translations. As it is, Ciardi employs the rhyming first and third line rhythm and it worked for me.
I found the "prefaces" at the beginning of each chapter or "Canto" to be very useful in preparing me for what was to appear on the following pages. And not being a student of mythology, the notes at the end of each chapter tended to fill in the blanks in what I had just read.
For me it was still a challenging read but the simplification helped. And while purists may find Ciardi's liberties an abomination (just a suspicion), they certainly helped me understand and enjoy the work more. If Dante's Inferno is required reading for class or personal enlightenment, this edition is likely a good choice.