Inferno [Paperback]

Dante Alighieri (Author), Stanley Lombardo (Author), Steven Botterill (Author), Anthony Oldcorn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0872209172 | ISBN-13: 978-0872209176 | Publication Date: February 27, 2009

To the groundbreaking series that began with Iliad (1997), and continued with Odyssey (2000) and Aeneid (2005), Stanley Lombardo now adds his translation of the first part of their most natural successor, Dante's great poetic synthesis of the classical pagan and medieval Christian traditions. Here is the Divine Comedy's most harrowing canticle, one whose fantastical Underworld setting, riveting plot line and dialogue, and remarkable range of diction offer perhaps the best vehicle yet for Lombardo's performance-based craft. Inferno takes to new heights the narrative skill and poetic virtuosity that have made him America s leading translator of epic literature.

In a brilliant Introduction that throws down an irresistible challenge to readers of the poem ( Questioning Inferno ), Steven Botterill also treats such topics as Dante and Our Life of Mind and Body, (Auto)Biography in Hell, and Dante the Politician, Dante the Poet, as well as others.

Headnotes that precede each canto, and endnotes both by Anthony Oldcorn give superb and stylish guidance to readers of Dante's enthralling but highly allusive poem, one in which God and the Devil are both in the details.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Lombardo s Inferno is a translation that resourcefully mines the words and narrative of Dante for suggestions, implications, motives, and potential disclosures that only locally vivid English, an attentive and active and daring imagination, and exegetical verve and nerve can give proper voice to. Lombardo s renderings are concrete, interpretive, expository, and explanatory; they are also resolutely colloquial, racy, and sometimes ruthlessly explicit.
Anthony Oldcorn s notes add the seasoned, Virgilian guidance one expects from a lifelong Dantist. The generous, notably informed, and oftentimes pleasingly wry and urbane annotation is designed to keep beginning readers on track while making them more informed; it offers somewhat practiced readers a chance to rethink the text at critical points with the aid of a senior scholar. Prose arguments at the head of each canto foreground and efficiently retail the verse narrative that follows. The text is also fully equipped with a strong and passionate Introduction that begins strategically with the De vulgari eloquentia. All in all, this is a dual-text Inferno that packs in as Dante s retributive hell itself does God s plenty. --James C. Nohrnberg, Professor of English, University of Virginia

This new Inferno is very quickly going to become a favorite. The translation itself is unusually dynamic and returns to the poem a register of daily speech that increases clarity and energy. It never loses sight of the fact that the Inferno tells an intensely involving story.
This volume also offers real help to the novice reader. The synopsis printed at the beginning of each canto; the detailed commentary on each canto, at the end of the book; and, most importantly, a really excellent Introduction all these give the reader constant and multileveled guides to the journey. --F. Regina Psaki, The Giustina Family Professor of Italian Language and Literature, University of Oregon

About the Author

Stanley Lombardo is Professor of Classics, University of Kansas.

Steven Botterill is Associate Professor of Italian Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

Anthony Oldcorn is Emeritus Professor of Italian Studies, Brown University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Hackett Pub Co (February 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872209172
• ISBN-13: 978-0872209176
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #649,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Notes, September 11, 2009

By 

Jasmes C. Blackburn - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inferno (Paperback)

The translation is well done. The synopses at the beginning provide a helpful road map. The notes, by Anthony Oldcorn, are the best I have seen in a number of versions of Inferno.