Dante's Comedy: The Inferno (Dante's Comedy, Vol 1) (v. 1) [Hardcover]

Dante Alighieri (Author), Benjamin Martinez (Illustrator), Nicholas Kilmer (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1985 | Series: Dante's Comedy, Vol 1

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.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dante's conversations with his mentor Virgil and the doomed shades are by turns assertive and abashed, irritated and pitying and inquisitive, and Anthony Esolen's new translation renders them so sensitively that they seem to take place in the same room with us. It follows Dante through all his spectacular range, commanding where he is commanding, wrestling, as he does, with the density and darkness in language and in the soul. This Inferno gives us Dante?s vivid drama and his verbal inventiveness. It is living writing." --James Richardson, Princeton University



"Professor Esolen's translation of Dante's Inferno is the best one I have seen, for two reasons. His decision to use unrhymed blank verse allows him to come nearly as close to the meaning of the original as any prose reading could do, and allows him also to avoid the harrowing sacrifices that the demand for rhyme imposes on any translator. And his endnotes and other additions provoke answers to almost any question that could arise about the work." --A. Kent Hieatt, Professor Emeritus, University of Western Ontario


"Esolen's brilliant translation captures the power and the spirit of a poem that does not easily give up its secrets. The notes and appendices provide exactly the kind of help that most readers will need." --?Robert Royal, president, Faith and Reason Institute --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, Italian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 241 pages
• Publisher: Branden Books (May 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0937832286
• ISBN-13: 978-0937832288
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,145,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Audacious journey, January 31, 2002

By 

Gary Sprandel (Frankfort, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dante's Comedy: The Inferno (Dante's Comedy, Vol 1) (v. 1) (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.