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Title: The Divine Comedy: Inferno (Penguin Classics) by Dante Alighieri, Mark Musa ISBN: 0-14-243722-0 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 (20 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Flowing, Lucid Translation and Notes
Comment: About twenty years ago I read Dorothy Sayers's translation of Dante's "Divine Comedy" with great pleasure, finding an awesome grandeur in Dante's progression from Hell through Purgatory to Heaven. When I decided to re-read the work, I found the poetry tortured and the references obscure. So I went comparison shopping, settling on Mark Musa's version. He created an excellent, free-flowing, poetic, and easily understandable translation of the three canticles of Dante's "Divine Comedy" for Penguin Classics.
In addition to the direct translation, Musa provides an introductory summary to each canto, detailed notes following each canto, a glossary of names in the back of each volume, and an introductory essay for each volume. The introduction to "Volume 1: Inferno" gives a thorough introduction to Dante and to his other works as well as to the Inferno. Following the introduction is a translator's note. The introductions to "Purgatory" and "Paradise" do not go over the extra information presented in "Inferno". It is useful to read all three of Dante's canticles in the Musa translation to get a complete, consistent presentation of the work. Musa does make reference in his notes to one volume to ideas or people presented in the others.
The notes are vital for almost everyone. The references to Biblical, classical, and medieval personalities, myths, time systems, theology, and events come frequently. Few people are up on the ins and outs of Guelf vs. Ghibelline in medieval Italian politics. Musa makes it all as clear as it needs to be.
Musa's version of "Inferno" italicizes the introductory summary before each canticle and retains the detailed, interesting mappings of Hell used in the Sayers edition.
Dante's poem is central to Western civilization. Allowing for some poetic necessities, it pulls classical and medieval history into the framework of Christian theology to show how God's love powers the universe, how people can exercise free will, and how God can help and reward those who trust in Him. It is very easy for the reader to ask how he or she would fare in the afterlife and how to go about finding a better outcome. Some sins are punished severely [like traitors frozen near Lucifer in the ice of the Cocytus lake], and some sins have varying outcomes [E.g., there are some sodomites running on the burning sand of Lower Hell forever and some having their sins burned way in the last stage of Purgatory before going to Paradise.]. Some loves are more blessed than others too. There is much to reflect on. Dante the Pilgrim, drawn by his love for Beatrice gets the full experience.
Reading "The Divine Comedy" is valuable in any translation; Musa's flies along, bringing his audience along with understanding.
This review for "Inferno" applies to "Purgatory" and "Paradise" as well, since the productions are so comparable.
Rating: 4
Summary: One of the better translations
Comment: I didn't know a lot about Dante's Divine Comedy before I decided to read this. I paged through several different translations and decided on Mark Musa's work. Most of the translations are laborious to follow. If you are looking for a version of the Inferno that is direct and easy to understand, this is the version for you.
Musa begins each canto (chapter) with an introduction and provides, at the end of each canto, a further explanation of many of the items in the book. Dante makes continuous references to people, events, and other literature that nobody except scholars that pour over this book will get. Musa fills in these gaps and, in several cases, provides the different interpretations that translators over time have thought.
The book itself was a little less enjoyable than I expected (at times, I felt that Dante wrote it to put all of his political enemies in a literary hell), but Musa deserves much praise for his translation.
Rating: 5
Summary: Terrific as an introductory translation
Comment: What is there to say about the Inferno itself? Given the sheer volume of references to this work in film, literature, and, indeed, every facet of western culture, anyone looking to understand deeply should read the Divine Comedy (but you can scrape by just reading the Inferno). The Musa translation is extremely accessible. I believe that anyone encountering it for the first time should use the Musa text. Beautiful, livid, and crystal clear.
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Title: The Divine Comedy : Purgatory by Dante Alighieri ISBN: 0140444424 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1985 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Divine Comedy : Paradise by Dante Alighieri, Mark Musa ISBN: 0140444432 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1986 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Confessions (OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS) by Saint Augustine, Henry Chadwick ISBN: 0192833723 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics) by Geoffrey Chaucer, Nevill Coghill ISBN: 0140424385 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, John Ciardi, Dante Alighieri ISBN: 0451527984 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 12 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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