Dante's Inferno [Paperback]

Marcus Sanders (Author), Doug Harvey (Author), Sandow Birk (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Creative people who don't write sometimes enjoy a honeymoon with the press -- right up until they put pen to paper. It happened with Madonna. She used to give interviews saying what an old-fashioned girl she really was at heart, how all she'd really like to do was find a nice writer and settle down. Consequently, she barely ever saw a bad review -- until she made the mistake of writing her first book. Critics promptly saw they'd been kidding themselves all along, and they turned on her.

So when word got around that the visionary California painter and book artist Sandow Birk was not just illustrating but co-writing a new adaptation of Dante's "Divine Comedy," some of us who cherish his work feared the worst. Sure, he could concoct historical canvases, sketches and propaganda posters about a bloody civil war between San Francisco and Los Angeles, as he did with "In Smog and Thunder: Historical Works From the Great War of the Californias." And OK, he could paint majestic landscapes of each of California's 33 state prisons in the luminist style of Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Remington, as he did with "Incarcerated: Visions of California in the 21st Century." Pastiching great painters was one thing. But Dante? In tackling not just fine but literary art for the first time, was Birk cruising for the same bruising Madonna got?

In a word, no. This version of the "Inferno" is God's face in a Groucho mask, a triumphant cathedral that will bring new readers to Dante, new appreciation for Birk's model here -- the great French illustrator Gustave Dore -- and new converts to the growing church of Sandow Birk.

The cover is so infernally beautiful that folks reading in public would do well to keep a tight grip on it. Imagine a panoramic hellscape in ochers and siennas, all set against a sulfurous sunset sky. On the left, half of the Golden Gate Bridge yearns forlornly, cables dangling from its broken span. To the right rises the ziggurat-crowned thrust of Los Angeles City Hall. Down below, so discreet that I never noticed it even in an art gallery last year, where the canvas measured a good 9 feet across, stands the leafless lattice of the World Trade Center's unmistakable stumps. And in the lower right corner, snaking around skyscrapers, oil refineries, palm trees and crow-clad telephone wires, writhes the telltale red and white tracery of nighttime freeways in gridlock. Behold -- literally -- the commute from hell.

For Birk, as for Dante, hell isn't just some posthumous grade you get on your life. It's a porous netherworld that welcomes slumming tourists like Dante and periodically overflows the infernal regions to contaminate the living world. Just look at Birk's panel for Canto III, the moment when the poet Virgil guides Dante through the gates of hell. Birk's Virgil resembles the caped figure familiar from Dore's edition, but here he's leading Dante past an overturned car into a littered, ominous underground garage. Signs beside them read "Do not back up/Severe tire damage" and "More parking lower level," and visible on the horizon is the Hollywood sign. Either hell is in Los Angeles, or Los Angeles is in hell.

Birk has drawn a full-page lithograph like this, plus a small black-and- white frontispiece, for each of Dante's 34 chapters. With the help of journalist and fellow surfer Marcus Sanders, he's also "adapted" Dante's text. They've avoided the word "translate," and it's not hard to see why. Here's Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's translation of that moment at hell's portal in Canto III:

"All hope abandon, ye who enter in!"

These words in sombre colour I beheld

Written upon the summit of a gate;

Whence I: 'Their sense is, Master, hard to me!' "

OK, now try Birk and Sanders:

"Abandon all hope upon entering here!

When I saw these bleak words etched in the stone above the gate,

I turned to Virgil and said, 'Hang on, I'm not too sure about this.' "

Obviously, Dante purists are going to tak

About the Author

Sandow Birk is a recipient of both Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships. His work has been exhibited widely and published in several books. He lives in Long Beach, California.

Marcus Sanders is a contributing editor for Surfing and Surfline , and has written for numerous travel and surfing magazines. Born and raised in Canada, he lives in San Francisco.

Product Details

• Paperback: 218 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811842134
• ISBN-13: 978-0811842136
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #433,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surfer Dante rocks!, June 8, 2005

By 

Richard C. Moorman (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dante's Inferno (Paperback)

Sandow Birk's illustrations are great Californian pastiches of Gustav Dore's original masterpieces. They are heartbreaking and satirical, and they really make the book sing.

I was just familiar enough with Dore's work to recognize what Birk was doing, but that's all. I suggest ordering this book along with "The Dore Illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy", so you can conveniently compare Birk and Dore side by side. I'm amazed at how Dore's work faded from view after being nearly universal during the first half of the twentieth century.

As for the complaints that Sanders' adaptation "lacks grace" and "isn't faithful" - there are a dozen extremely faithful and nuanced translations of Dante available right now. Take your pick. This one is also faithful and smart, but it doesn't let being faithful and smart get in the way of having a good time. It's refreshing. It's Dante's turn to be adapted into new and strange settings, like Shakespeare, or Verdi.

And it's a way in for lazy slobs like me who can actually read this version fast enough to get through it. I still haven't made it through my twenty-year-old copy of Dorothy Sayers' adaptation of "Dante's Inferno", but I zipped through this in two evenings.

So, rock on, Sanders and Birk. I've already ordered the Dore, and your "Purgatorio".

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To Hell And Back, March 12, 2004

By 

Tlahtoani Anubis "Tlahtoani Anubis" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dante's Inferno (Paperback)

Dante's Inferno by Sandow Birk and Marcus Sanders is an excellent treatment on the first of the three parts of Dante Alighieri's well known and important Divine Comedy. The illustrations of Birk, heavily inspired by Gustave Dore's engravings further serve to increase the pleasure of reading this translation. Is this one of the most scholarly translations of the Inferno, certainly not. Is this one of the most readable and refreshing translations of the Inferno, without a doubt, yes. If you are looking for a translation of the Inferno for close and thorough study two time poet laureate (1997 + 1998) Robert Pinsky has an excellent version.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dont waste your money: get Dores pics and Musas translation, December 25, 2005

By 

noleander - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dante's Inferno (Paperback)

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.