The Purgatorio (Signet Classics) [Paperback]

Dante Alighieri (Author), John Ciardi (Translator), Archibald T. MacAllister (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2001

Following The Inferno (also available from Signet Classic) and preceding The Paradiso (available next month from Signet Classic) this brilliant translation of Dante's immortal three-part Divine Comedy beautifully captures the conception of the aspiring soul.

Ciardi's version of Dante will be in many respects the best we have seen. (John Crowe Ransom)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In the years of my reading Dante, after the first overwhelming, reverberating spell of the Inferno, which I think never leaves one afterward, it was the Purgatorio that I had found myself returning to with a different, deepening attachment, until I reached a point when it was never far from me . . . Of the three sections of [The Divine Comedy], only Purgatory happens on the earth, as our lives do, with our feet on the ground, crossing a beach, climbing a mountain. All three parts of the poem are images of our lives, but there is an intimacy peculiar to the Purgatorio. Here the times of day recur with all the sensations and associations that the hours bring with them, the hours of the world we are living in as we read the poem."         --from the Foreword --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Signet Classics (July 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451528026
• ISBN-13: 978-0451528025
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence. His family, of minor nobility, was not wealthy nor especially distinguished; his mother died when he was a child, his father before 1283. At about the age of 20 he married Gemma Donati, by whom he had three children. Little is known of Dante's formal education-it is likely to have included study with the Dominicans, the Augustinians, and the Franciscans in Florence, and at the university in Bologna. In 1295 he entered Florentine politics and in the summer of 1300 he became one of the six governing Priors of Florence. In 1301, the political situation forced Dante and his party into exile. For the rest of his life he wandered through Italy, perhaps studied at Paris, while depending for refuge on the generosity of various nobles. He continued to write and at some point late in life he took asylum in Ravenna where he completed the Divine Commedia and died, much honoured, in 1321.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DEEP AND MOVING, December 28, 2002

By 

EMAN NEP - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Purgatorio (Signet Classics) (Paperback)

When I read "Inferno" I read the John Ciardi translation, so it only made sense that I read "Purgatorio" by the same translator. As I like poetry I definitely like the fact that his translations rhyme even if several liberties have to be taken with the original text. Sometimes, though, it seems as if the translator is more concerned about rhyming than getting the point across. However, as Ciardi points out, Dante is very deep and challenging. Translating is difficult. Translating the "Divine Comedy" and making it rhyme while still making sense is harder still but Ciardi does an admirable job. There are quite a few tercets that are absolutely wonderful to read.

The Purgatorio details the journey of Virgil and Dante as they go up Purgatory. If there is one thing that I like about Dante, it is in the way he thinks, which appears very logical. In Purgatory, one sees that one starts at the very bottom, which shows humility. This of course, makes perfect sense, since these souls are approaching God. I particularly liked Dante's reasoning behind "The Proud". In life, they walked around with their noses held high, thinking highly of themselves. In Purgatory, they crawl under the crushing weight of huge boulders, making them humble and bringing them "back down to earth."

Each Canto starts with a very helpful synopsis of what follows. After that is the Canto and after that are the footnotes. It is extremely beneficial to know some mythology and Italian history beforehand, but the footnotes at the end will fill in the many gaps for you, that is, if you have the patience to read them. If you're still confused about what all has gone on, the section at the very end entitled "How to Read Dante" is very helpful, a nice way to finish the book.

This book, like its predecessor, can be very challenging and tedious. But, as Virgil and Dante find, though the road is rough so are the riches that much greater when they finally come to journey's end.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Introduction to Dante, August 22, 2007

By 

Lynn Hoffman, author:The Short Course in Beer (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Purgatorio (Signet Classics) (Paperback)

Translators, according to the Italian proverb are traitors.
There is no way around it, something is always lost in the
leap from one language to another. You can consult a modern
'adaptation' of Shakespeare to get the feel of what has to
be surrendered.

John Ciardi decided to keep the original rhyme scheme: 'aba'
in which the poem is divided into groups of three lines of
which the first and third rhyme. In Italian, this is fairly
easy, in English a great deal more difficult.
So in order to keep the feel of the tercets (as they're called)
Ciardi sometimes had to stray a bit from the literal
meaning. Nothing vital is lost, but the specialist will
surely find some points to dispute.
For the rest of us, this is a first-rate view into a world
we can barely otherwise imagine. Ciardi's notes and glosses
on the cantos are breezy, illuminating and approachable.

There are other, more correct translations- Mandelbaum's
is first among them -that might be better for the specialist
or the student of the Italian Language. I notice, however,
that when I want to spend a pleasant few moments in the
Poet's company that this is the translation I usually reach
for.

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the novel bang BANG. ISBN 9781601640005

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reading Dante is sort of like being in purgatory, June 17, 2003

By 

Brett (South Dakota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Purgatorio (Signet Classics) (Paperback)

I read the Mendelbaum (I apologize for what may be an awful misspelling) version of _Inferno_ quite some time back, but I always wanted to finish the series. They didn't have the Mendelbaum translation at my local bookstore, so I went with this instead. I'd say that Ciardi did an admiral job with the rhyme. I was able to accept the compromise between actual terza rima and a straight translation, given the scarcity of rhymes in English. I felt that most of the work was understandable, though there were some moments of distinct confusion. The notes are very in-depth and keep a sense of humor about them, something that is vital when reading Dante. They provide a refreshing sense of perspective when one starts to become too bogged down in Dante's poem. There is certainly a lot to be gained from reading Dante, despite the effort required. I thought this edition enhanced by enjoyment of the poem considerably. I'd recommend it, with the caveat that it is probably more imprecise than other translations, due to the need to rhyme.