Review
I am delighted ... Prof. Cotter's translation is fluent and clear; he negotiates Dante's theological and philosophical subtleties with consummate skill; his version is sure to be of great use to students, and I hope it receives the widest possible distribution. He has performed a real and valuable service. -- Fredrick Morgan, The Hudson Review
There have been quite a large number of translations of the Commedia in the English language; some of them quite recently, but it is always a very difficult effort to render in English the subtle peculiarities of Dante's poetry. In comparing the original verse by Dante to the translations, one senses the distance between a great poem and someone who tries to approach him as best as he can. But I have to admit that, in reading Prof. Cotter's translation, I could not help to notice that the poetic insight of the Commedia was still present in the English verse. Prof. Cotter has been able to take the modern reader through the complex journey of the mind in which the eternal images created by Dante's genius become alive and accessible to the English reader. ... a great asset to Dante scholarship in North America as well as in the entire English speaking world. -- Prof. Charles Franco, SUNY @ Stony Brook
There have been quite a large number of translations of the Commedia in the English language; some of them quite recently, but it is always a very difficult effort to render in English the subtle peculiarities of Dante's poetry. In comparing the original verse by Dante to the translations, one senses the distance between a great poem and someone who tries to approach him as best as he can. But I have to admit that, in reading Prof. Cotter's translation, I could not help to notice that the poetic insight of the Commedia was still present in the English verse. Prof. Cotter has been able to take the modern reader through the complex journey of the mind in which the eternal images created by Dante's genius become alive and accessible to the English reader. ... a great asset to Dante scholarship in North America as well as in the entire English speaking world. -- Prof. Charles Franco, SUNY @ Stony Brook
Product Description
The finest translation to date of the most important classical spirtual writing in the history of the Western world. Dr. Cotter, a well known poet, literary critic, and scholar of Christian mysticism renders a translation acclaimed for its mystical sensitivity, English literary power, and excellence of critical scholarship.
