This new critical edition, including Mark Musa's classic translation, provides students with a clear, readable verse translation accompanied by ten innovative interpretations of Dante's masterpiece.
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Musa (Italian, Indiana Univ.), who is noted for his translation of Dante's Vita Nuova, adds to the body of contemporary versions of the Inferno. Musa's verse translation is accurate but flattens Dante's poetry and diction; the translations of Ciardi, Mandelbaum, and, more recently, Robert Pinsky (LJ 11/1/93) are more satisfying as poetry. Furthermore, Musa's version does not include the original Italian. Of greater value are the author's detailed textual notes, bibliography of recent work on the Inferno, and collection of critical essays by the leading Dante scholars: Lawrence Baldassaro, Guy Raffa, Denise Heilbronn-Gaines, Amilcare Inannucci, Christopher Kleinhenz, Robert Hollander, Ricardo Quinones, Joan Ferrante, and John Welle. A convenient and accessible edition for academic collections.?T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Original Language: Italian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
for a translation, High Fidelity is the Sound of Poetry,
This review is from: Dante's Inferno, The Indiana Critical Edition (Indiana Masterpiece Editions) (Paperback)
Musa is a scholar, not a poet, at least not professionally. But the authenticities of his translation's thunder, juices, epiphanies, and whiffs would indicate that scholarship makes a successful move to a new language more probable than do poetic gifts. Dante, now, was a poet. The infinite riches of his simple simple lines glow from each line of Musa's. While the essential deep love for the poem glows from each line of his commentary. Pinsky, a very good poet, spent his powers on reproducing the virtually unreproducible--the never-ending aba bcb cdc terza rima rhyme scheme. And he did an expert job. But the poetry is the loser. It's in the back seat, trying to stay awake. The real surprise is how careless Pinsky's rhythms are. Musa's pound right along-a fairly consistent, and unobtrusive, iambic pentameter. Dante, of course, rhymes and rhymes and rhymes, but always to profoundest purpose. (It is said he wrote three lines a day. The deeper one goes into the Commedia the easier it is to believe this.) What rhymes with what was clearly something Dante cared a lot about. Take Inferno 34, 34-39. Dante's final six words (and I should point out that my Italian is very limited) for these six lines are: UGLY, EYEBROW, SORROW/ WONDER, HEAD, RED. Pinsky's are: beautiful, brows, well/ was, head, this. Musa's: foul, Maker, him/ up, faces, red. The parallels the rhymes convey, as I see it, are these. Lucifer, now UGLY, is the source of the world's SORROW. (Musa faithfully pairs "foul" and "all grief should spring from him." Pinsky pairs "beautiful" (reversing Dante's careful sequence of beautiful to ugly) with "then all sorrow may well" which depends on the next line to mean anything, which sort of weakens the parallel: Like saying 1 plus 1 = 1.2 and uh oh another eight tenths.) And the second parallel: Lucifer, whose fall to hell began with the raising of an insolent EYEBROW, has become hideous, a three-headed WONDER. From beautiful to UGLY, from the happiness of Eden to a world of SORROW. Musa's "Maker"/"looked up" is admittedly not terrific. Pinsky's "brows"/"How great a marvel it was" is more successful. But compare the two translations' net impact. If you saw what Dante saw, and he was very much writing so that you would, which set of lines below would better convey your reaction?"If he was truly once as beautiful / As he is ugly now, and raised his brows / Against his Maker--than all sorrow may well / Come out of him. How great a marvel it was / For me to see three faces on his head: / In front there was a red one; joined to this, / . . . " "If he was once as fair as now he's foul / and dared to raise his brows against his Maker, / it is fitting that all grief should spring from him. / Oh, how amazed I was when I looked up / and saw a head--one head wearing three faces! / One was in front (and that was a bright red)."
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Do not take this journey through hell without Musa.,
By Billy Lombardo (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dante's Inferno, The Indiana Critical Edition (Indiana Masterpiece Editions) (Paperback)
The Inferno is a record of Dante the Pilgrim's first trip through hell. It was Virgil's second. This was my fifth trip through the Inferno, and having Musa along for the ride made it wonderful. Whether this is your first time through or not, you ought to have this critical edition as your guide. As another reviewer noted, Musa isn't nearly as fettered by the rhyme scheme as translators like John Ciardi and Robert Pinsky. Even Ciardi apologizes often for his liberties in the name of rhyme. Musa has gorgeous footnotes on lines that Pinsky and Ciardi neglect for the rhyme. If you have the great fortune to teach the Inferno, it makes great sense, of course to have multiple translations before you, but Musa's critical edition will be the most weathered edition in the end. Your students will gain a great understanding of the importance at looking at multiple sources as well.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It only makes sense,
By
This review is from: Dante's Inferno, The Indiana Critical Edition (Indiana Masterpiece Editions) (Paperback)
Look, you can buy Mark Musa's translation of Inferno and notes from Penguin The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno (Penguin Classics)and that's all you get. Or you can buy this book, get the same translation and notes with a festschrift (a collection of scholarly essays written to honor Musa (Musa even offers one himself)). I think that's worth the extra three bucks plus its a handsomer book. Plus, Musa blank verse is very good. While you're at it, you could also look at my bookDante's Journey: A Field Guide to the Infernal Regions
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