John Ciardi's translation of Dante's DIVINE COMEDY
The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
My review
Dante Alighieri's DIVINE COMEDY is perhaps the greatest poetic work ever produced in
Western civilization. Whether you believe in a literal, physical afterlife or not, Dante's understanding of the collective unconscious in all its glory and horror is exceeded by no one. His COMEDIA is a three-part portrait of the human heart: the hellish heart that has embraced evil; the fallible heart, that has sinned but is capable of redemption; and the heavenly heart, that of the former sinner cleansed by Purgatory, and the Saint, who did not need cleansing at his or her death. The translator of this monumental work, John Ciardi, is the best I've ever known. He preserves the scheme of the triplets, which many translators don't; he preserves the rhyme scheme, though in English, a miracle in its own right, for English, unlike Italian and other Romance languages, is rhyme-poor; and whenever possible, he translates Dante word for word rather than paraphrasing him, the way too many translators do, and thereby preserves the original punch and beauty of Dante's work *as Dante himself wrote it*. Ciardi also provides a complete analysis of the architecture of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven as Dante conceived these to be; copious notes on the historical and cultural meanings of people and things referred to in the COMEDIA; and explanations of things in the text that would otherwise be too obscure for the modern reader to comprehend. A wonderful addition to any library, a true cultural treasure of lasting value, this work deserves to be preserved and savored by readers down the ages, regardless of their religious backgrounds or lack thereof.
View all my reviews.