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The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Volume 1: Inferno (Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Vol. 1)

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I feel so enthusiastic about this book that I want to tell everybody about it. This translation is unrhymed; it is in prose; and it follow's Dante's syntax and meaning closely. If you know a little Italian, you can use the text (it is a bilingual edition) as a crib to read Dante in the original, which is a tremendously moving experience. Dante's Hell is full of striking characters who still feel the passions they experienced during their life in history; only now their identity is even more sharply defined because they are living in eternity. The narrator travelling through Hell, guided by Virgil, is filled with fear, pity and anguish. Dante's writing is extraordinarily beautiful and supple.

The Durling-Martinez edition is the one used in my college Dante class. Together with their translation of Purgatorio (their edition of Paradiso apparently still in progress), the two works have great endnotes for every canto of the poem, good appendices and Purgatorio has a series of 'intercantica' notes which refer the reader to all the parallels between the two works, so you don't have to remember that the Gates of Hell and the Gates of Purgatory are found in Canto 9 of their respective works.

I wrote this review because the top reviews for this edition were all in fact for other editions, and this one definately deserves its due. It may be more expensive than Mandelbaum's paperback, but its worth it. The print is larger, the language clearer, the notes more useful. Try it out.

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.

I was so excited to see this marvelous book ported to kindle I ordered a copy immediately. I love and cherish my physical book version The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Volume 1: Inferno (Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri Vol. 1)and could not wait to have it accessible at any time on my kindle. Unfortunately the formatting is horrendously dysfunctional. Since the text of the original Italian and the English translation are on facing pages they muddle into each other. Also this version has only location numbers and not the numbers of the text pages that so often accompany the text of other books. It would be really nice if these things could be fixed, making the kindle version as nice (i.e. useful) as the physical book.

The translation and accompanying commentary are exceptional, and I have the full set of Durling's Commedia in print. In the view of many critics, this is the best of the prose translations currently available. Was hoping to have this electronically as well. But the current Kindle version (as of September 2011 is badly formatted. Verse line breaks of the terza rima are not recognized, and facing page format doesn't render well in e-version. Be sure to download the sample before purchasing. Looking forward to a corrected text. I posted an earler review saying much the same thing, but it appears to have been deleted by Amazon.

The Divine Comedy is seen as one of the seminal works in the history of the written word, up there with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and the works of William Shakespeare. Not just an interesting story, the work is also filled with many characters based on actual people, as well as events and references to actual happenings. Originally written in the fourteenth century by Durante degli Alighieri, a nobleman who was very opinionated and involved in Italian politics of the time; in his Divine Comedy, he deals with politics, religion, and much more, but was not above letting readers know how he felt about certain people. The key then to reading, understanding and enjoying this work is really in the translation and editing.

In the lengthy introduction, Robert M. Durling - professor emeritus from the University of California at Santa Cruz - along with Ronald L. Martinez do a great job of introducing the reader to this historical and important work, dividing it up with the biography of Dante, when he likely wrote The Divine Comedy, what Durling hoped to achieve with this translation, as well as what Dante sought to achieve as a writer and a poet in medieval Italy. The epic poem, spanning three volumes, helped create and cement the Tuscan dialect, written in terza rima, which is hendecasyllabic or lines of eleven syllables, divided into cantos.

Inferno is the most popular of the three volumes, mainly because of its content featuring graphic descriptions of the nine circles of hell, as Dante paints vivid pictures with words of what those suffering in these respective levels are experiencing. The story is of Dante himself traveling through hell, guided by Virgil. Along the way he meets many people he recognizes, whether they be renowned people throughout history, or local Italians or people of Europe that Dante himself has known in his lifetime.

This translation does a great job of keeping things easy and user-friendly for the reader. It is a bilingual edition, featuring the original medieval Italian on the left-hand side, and Durling's English translation on the right. Those who have some grasp of the Romance Languages will often be able to glance over the Italian and pick out certain words and phrasings, comprehending Dante's original words and descriptions. There's also a detailed picture of all nine circles by Robert Turner, as well as further illustrations throughout the text. It is filled with endnotes for each canto, further expanded notes and an index; so whether you're well versed in Italian medieval literature, or someone wanting to read this renowned work for the first time, Durling's translation of The Divine Comedy, Volume 1: Inferno is an excellent starting point that will quickly draw you into the unforgettable world that Dante created over six hundred years ago.

Originally written on April 10, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.

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As Dante accepted Virgil's offer to be his guide, please consider letting me be your guide for a moment on the subject of reading Dante's "Divine Comedy." In honor of Dante's work, I will denominate my suggestions as cantos.

Canto 1. Any prose translation is better than any verse translation. To create verse in English out of Dante's Italian verse always results in text that is, I think, too inaccurate and too difficult.

Canto 2. Read all three parts of the "Divine Comedy." Reading only "Inferno" is like seeing only the first third of Shakespeare's "The Tempest," or reading only the first third of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment," or watching only the first third of the film "Casablanca." Dante's "Divine Comedy" has a happy ending, but you won't see it if you don't read all three parts. Dante never, ever, ever, ever imagined that people would read only "Inferno."

Canto 3. Take Professor Robert Hollander's advice, and read Dante's "Divine Comedy straight through while sitting under a tree, without consulting footnotes at all. True, you won't understand every thing. But do you understand in a Shakespeare play the first time you see it?

The Inferno of Dante Algihieri is part of a larger work known as the Divine Comedy, a set of three poems in which Dante describes his spiritual journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Inferno is the first part of the trilogy; in it, Dante describes his journey through Hell, escorted by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. Hell, as Dante portrays it, is divided into nine concentric circles, each one smaller and lower than the previous, and therefore forming a funnel-like shape. In each circle, the souls of persons who have committed or lived a life of a certain sin, such as gluttony, avariciousness, or fraud, are condemned to some form of eternal punishment. For example, heretics are forever entombed in burning tombs. These nine circles are further divided into three categories: incontinence, violence, and fraud.
Perhaps Inferno, and the Divine Comedy in general, has its greatest value in Dante's literary mastery. Dante's wording and use of various literary devices make the poetry of Inferno nothing short of magnificent. I am not able to read the original Italian it was written in, but for those advanced readers the original text is provided opposite each page. Furthermore, the translation by Robert Durling, used in this edition of Inferno, does its best to retain the poetic beauty for which the Divine Comedy was so famous. Unlike many other versions, there is no attempt to rhyme the lines in English, nor does Durling try to match his own literary skill to Dante's. Instead, the book is a modern prose translation; for the most part, there is a very simple vocabulary used throughout. The lines, however, are not rearranged into a more easily comprehensible form. For many readers, this may prove a slight problem, yet, after a few chapters, the flow of the poem becomes more easily understandable.
As for the piece itself, many have claimed it to be a depressing, dark tale of Dante's trip to hell, relating it more to the horror genre than any other. On the contrary, the message Dante means to convey in the poem is much more than simply terror and dismay. I, however, find Inferno's importance in its spiritual message, for Dante gives a unique perspective of sin. Unlike the traditional Christian image of sin, Dante portrays it as more of an intellectual transgression against self, fellow man, or God rather than simply a violation of traditional moral values. The punishments are considerably brutal, but Dante only uses suffering as more of a literary device than to define the gruesome details of Hell, since the punishment is usually meant to reflect the horrors of a particular sin. The book also has a deep rooting in politics, for Dante was heavily involved in the political strife between the pro-Papal and pro-Emperor parties in Italy. Therefore, a somewhat basic background knowledge of Italian Renaissance history is needed to understand some parts of the book.
Those familiar with classical mythology may find many surprises when reading the story. The evidence of Greek and Roman influence are many, yet Dante does little to keep in line with the traditional characters. Plutus, for instance, is found as a raving, dumb guardian of the circle of the avaricious. Nevertheless, Dante's variations do little to subtract from the meaning or flow of the poem, rather it only serves to enhance its eccentricity. It is obvious throughout the story that Dante cares little of keeping his image of Hell similar to conventional Western stories. For example, the center of Hell is not brutally hot and aflame, but a frozen pit of ice. Satan himself is not a quick-witted, agile devil as is the traditional image of him is, yet a humongous beast resembling more the intellect of a robot than of a man. The symbolism of these differences is quite clear: Dante has decided to redefine the Christian belief of sin and has therefore redefined the classical/Christian image of Hell.
In short, few stories survive the test of time, however, Inferno certainly deserves its 700-year history. It is a divine dissertation on a different perspective of sin embodied in the tale of a journey through Hell. For those who enjoy literary depth and meaning, every line in Inferno could be argued to contain some type of symbolism. By combining ancient Greek mythology with Christian dogma, Dante has created a fascinating depiction of one of the tenets of religious doctrine since the times of antiquity, yet not conforming to any traditional image of Hell. Needless to say, the Inferno of Dante Algihieri is a unique story written in absolutely magnificent poetic form, setting the precedent for narrational poetry in the modern era. What is more, Robert Durling does a terrific job at keeping Dante's literary genius intact while providing sufficient notes and background reading to provide the reader with their own interpretation, void of any self-bias. Despite the difficult reading, I would recommend this book to any who wish to expand their spiritual and historical knowledge.

I began reading this book for a high school class, and did not finish it prior to the due date. However, this book so enthralled me that I simply had to keep reading it through the finish. Robert M. Durling & Co.'s notes proved to be very helpful in understanding the worldview with which Dante was writing. If there was ever a movie I would want to see, the Inferno would be it. I should note that I was so involved in the book that I became obsessed with death for the duration, listening to music such as Mozart's Requiem and more. I thus highly reccommend it, but discourage it for those individuals that are easily depressed.