Review (PDF) The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
A stunning 3-in-1 deluxe edition of one of the great works of Western literatureAn epic masterpiece and a foundational work of the Western canon, The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as his guide; his ascent of Mount Purgatory and reunion with his dead love, Beatrice; and, finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith, desire, and enlightenment and furnished with semiautobiographical details, Dante's poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. This acclaimed blank verse translation is published here for the first time in a one-volume edition.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Series: Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition
Paperback: 752 pages
Publisher: Penguin Classics; Reprint edition (February 26, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143107194
ISBN-13: 978-0143107194
Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 1.9 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #230,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #27 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > European > Italian #240 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Ancient, Classical & Medieval > Ancient & Classical #5807 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Classics
Kirkpatrick's translation of Dante's Italian is mediocre at best with many oddities cropping up in his translation which apparently are efforts to arbitrarily differentiate his work from the many other historic and recent Dante translations offered. E.G. Inferno I, 32 " a leopard light and lively, svelte and quick" menaces Dante (or does it? It sounds like a charming little kitty!). Also Inf XV 110-11 "If you yearn to set your eyes on such-like mangy scabs". None of this odd verbiage appears in Mandelbaum, Ciardi, or Hollander, so it looks like either Kirkpatrick is a geniue with rare insight into the Italian language or (my theory) he is just sprucing things up a bit for the sake of trying to be unique among the masses of Dantean translators.For the same reason, he also likes to throw Dante's Latin quotes in untranslated (for the effect he says) e.g. Inf I, 111 "from which invidia has set her loose" or I, 64 "to him I screamed my Miserere". Does this really achieve any astistic or pedagogical goal or is it just an attempt to sound different from other translations? I felt unimpressed by these efforts, and in comparison to the many other translations I've read of Dante, I thought Kirkpatrick's over-emphasized variant approach added no additional interpretive meaning or aesthetic beauty.The original three volume set of Kirkpatrick's version of the Comedy added at least excellent detailed introductions to each canticle along with detailed commentary for each canto, along with briefer line by line notes.
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