Hi, Surfing on Amazon I notice that there are several available translations of the above. Is there anyone who can tell me about the relative merits or deficiencies of these translations? Thanks, Serena

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2007 09:42AM by ceforumadmin.

Dear Serena,

I am the new editor of Acquerello Italiano and know something about Dante. The Inferno is of course only the first of the three books of Dante's (Divine) Comedy. I would think it best to obtain a translation of the whole thing. This simplifies our choice, because most translators tackle only the Inferno. The translation I prefer is the one in blank verse by the American poet Allen Mandelbaum, available in a Bantam paperback. I actually wrote the notes to the final cantos of Purgatory and to Paradise. There is another full translation in the Oxford World Classics series by the English poet C. H. Sisson, who also translates Dante without rhyme into a very contemporary idiom. An older translation that Ezra Pound preferred was that of Lawrence Binyon, who, if I remember correctly attempts to follow the original "terza rima" rhyme scheme. The translation of the Inferno only by American poet Robert Pinsky is another, contemporary attempt to follow the "terza rima" scheme, but it is based on previous translations, because Pinsky does not know Italian. Very recently the American scholar Robert Hollander published the first of a proposed three-volume translation of the Comedy done by his wife Jean Hollander and himself. He did the scholarly notes, which should be useful. A "classic" prose translation of the Comedy, with extensive notes, is that by Charles S. Singleton. I don't recommend the quaint translation of Dorothy M. Sayers or the derivative Penguin translation by Mark Musa. I hope this is more helpful than confusing!

Anthony Oldcorn

Serena,

There is little I could add to Anthony Oldcorn's assessment of scholarly translations. If, however, you merely want a highly enjoyable, if loose, translation of the Inferno; then I would recommend the version by John Ciardi.

Joe

Hello Serena, I'm sure that you have made your choice by now but after some thought I settled on the Robert M.Durling and Ronald L.Martinez translation published by Oxford University Press. I have used it in a discussion group which included my Italian teacher, who came to this country some twenty years ago to teach his native language. He approved it and I continue to enjoy it several years later. Hope you feel the same. Valerie.

I studied Dante extensively in university, and found that Allen Mandelbaum's bilingual texts the best overall. John Ciardi also did a very interesting translation, as he too is a poet....