Dante's Paradiso

by Marcus Sanders (Adapter), Mary Campbell (Foreword), Sandow Birk (Adapter)

With the publication of "Dante's Paradiso," Sandow Birk and Marcus Sanders complete their literary and artistic achievementthe retelling of "The Divine Comedy" in contemporary words and images. Hailed as "inspired" by the "The London Review of Books," Birk and Sanders's adaptation of Dante's classic work is true to the spirit of the original and is as acerbic and shockingly funny today as in thirteenth-century Italy. With a text that incorporates modern slang and references to anachronistically recent public figures, Birk and Sanders pay tribute to Dante's linguistic approach and clever politics. Birk's striking spin on Gustave Dore's famous engravings accompany the cantos. Together they lend the timeless poem a postmodern edge. A major retrospective of all of Birk's illustrations and paintings for the trilogy will be held at the San Jose Museum of Art in August 2005 in tribute to a masterpiece for our times.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 14, 2005

Reviews

[Bill Bleuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice modernized version. Sometimes too timely for my tastes and, like the other two, often places people in the afterlife who aren't yet dead. Dante does the same, but only in particular instances and with explanations.

Paradiso is the most difficult of the three books of the Comedy, and even the best translators stumble here.

This is an accessible version of Dante, but only a mere shadow of the original, and I wouldn't recommend it to someone new to Dante.

[stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want to get the whole commedia in their translation.

basically, it starts in chicago, then new york, and then la (inferno, purgatorio, paradiso). the language is our language. there are no footnotes. beautiful illustrations accompany each passage.

dante is accessible once again here. you realize his genius, and the genius of sanders and birk for adapting the poem into our modern american vernacular.

i can't say enough about the art, the tone, the stories, the interpretations, the parallels . . . it is stunning visually and thematically and intellectually, and i highly recommend it to anyone.

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the Sanders translation of Dante (though compilation and interpretation may be a better term to use). The illustrations of Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York (standing in for a contemporary Heaven, Hell and Purgatory) with their homage to Dore's illustrations of the Divine Comedy act as a perfect foil to the use of street language and surfer talk running through the books. I believe these "translations and illustrations deserve to become a modern classic! This version of Paradiso is particularly accessible and, when all three volumes are read in context, the ending beautifully balances the opening... "Then I saw the light". Brilliant.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The entire illustrated series of Dante's Divine Comedy is amazing. My English teacher is using them as a visual aid for my Dante class and I find not only the relatively loose translation enlightening and hilarious, but the images in the spirit of the Comedia and funny! My favorites in this Canticle are the images of the highest part of heaven, which include religious images from the Aztecs, from Hinduism and, most fabulously, the final image of the great Rose, which is a picture of Mecca. The final picture was perfect, but I won't spoil it for you.

[Ben De Bono · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an adaptation of Dante this one falls somewhere in between Birk and Sanders excellent work on Inferno and their more problematic take on Purgatorio. As with Purgatorio some of the artwork choices really don't fit, though here that issue is less problematic.

As with the previous two entries in this series, it's a fun take on Dante but should by no means be your first or only introduction to the Commedia

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you were made to read Dante's Paradiso in school and hated it, you will be happily impressed. This one is a fun read. Thats right, I said it.

[Robert Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good adaptation, for both the illustrations and the contemporary spin.