Paradiso: The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri

by Allen Mandelbaum; Verse Translation With An Introduction

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Science and Fiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you find you respond positively to Dante's imagining you will probably want to have more than one translation. It is a difficult task to convey the mastery of the work and its poetic craftsmanship while also making clear the meaning to modern readers based on its contemporaneous understanding. Mandelbaum goes with a free translation, not bound by rhyme or meter, giving priority to flow and ready comprehension.

To compliment this translation I'd suggest Norton and Ciardi who both preserve more of the poetic effect. But if its just one book you want for your library, this is the one. Nice presentation on the page in a handsome edition.

[brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was so pretty, i can't believe I've heard more about inferno than this one