The Inferno of Dante: Reader's Guide

by Robert Pinsky

When Robert Pinsky's new verse translation of the Inferno was published in hardcover in 1994, Pinsky was praised for "creating a supple American equivalent for Dante's vernacular music where many others have failed" (Edward Hirsch, The New Yorker). Now Pinsky is serving as Poet Laureate of the United States, and the ample, elegant Inferno featuring Michael Mazur's illustrations is available at last in a paperback edition.In addition to Mazur's thirty-five monotypes, this edition presents the Italian text and English translation on facing pages, explanatory notes, and a Foreword by the leading Dante scholar John Freccero.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Horror, Literature

Paperback

Published October 1, 1997

About the author

Robert Pinsky is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of which are collections of his own poetry. His published work also includes critically acclaimed translations, including The Inferno of Dante Alighieri and The Separate Notebooks by Czesław Miłosz. He teaches at Boston University and is the poetry editor at Slate.
wikipedia

Reviews

[Megan Elisabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for my Western Literature class this semester and it was alright. I liked how detailed Dante's version of Hell was but I was not riveted.

[Mike P · Rating 2 out of 5]

I realized this is a classic and that is what prompted me to read it. It was interesting in the beginning, as I recognized the individuals referred to in the beginning levels of the journey downward. However, it was less appealing as the descent continued because I was unfamilar with the persons. Clearly, those in the last level fo Hell were well placed. Interesting enough that I would say it is worth reading.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inferno is an interesting story. The fact that this poem has survived centuries and continues to hold its authenticity is really amazing. I found myself continuously referring back to the readers notes for each Canto. This was not necessarily an easy story to read. In fact, I would argue that it's college level even though I feel that most classics can be covered at the high school level. I love that the "Inferno" is chalk-full of symbolism. So much symbolism that there's references to people and places that just haven't been carried on over the centuries. Hence why it's helpful to have Pinsky lay out some context every so often. I would say that many can relate to Dante's experiences in the poem. While I haven't read Purgatorio or Paradiso, I have done a little research just through what the internet has to offer. In "Inferno," Dante does not seem to be in a good place. It's enlightening to see what his perspective of Hell is to be. So much that I don't believe many would disagree, at least in terms of the layout. This part of "The Divine Comedy" is a great example of symbolism in showing that we all have climb down to our darkest 'rings' in order to reach the top. I would back that up by reminding the audience that this is why he started the story with Inferno, not Paradiso... Any way Inferno is a great read! It can be rather hard to digest so don't try and speed through this one!

[Natalya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every year I read the Divine Comedy because I love it. Dante is an unparalleled genius in literature. Translating his incredible work is a very difficult task. Pinsky does a great job of translating the Inferno into clear English. Not my favorite translation but I'd recommend this for its readability.

[Jason Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great translation and his use of sound and alliteration in this translation keeps the story moving as our travelers move through Hell. I just taught the first 8 Cantos to my English 10 class and, with a lesson or 2 on historical context, Pinsky's version kept most if my 15 and 16 year olds captive.

[Rgrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good readable translation.

[chlo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of beautiful yet scary imagery, and a lot of spiritual and biblical symbolism. A timeless classic.

[Yael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the years I've been mining Dante's magnificent COMEDIA for quotes and notes for three of my own books: DRAGON DRIVE, HELLMALL, and NEW MAGICKS FOR A NEW AGE. I haven't read the trilogy cover-to-cover, but rather have jumped around, absorbing this section and that, somehow putting it together into some sort of coherent whole (my mind is weird that way). My favorite translation is that of John Ciardi; I've reviewed his version of the COMEDIA elsewhere on Goodreads.com. While Robert Pinsky's translation of THE INFERNO is good, the text is beautifully illustrated by Michael Mazur, and Pinsky does provide excellent notes on the architecture of Hell and other aspects of the text, this translation falls short of John Ciardi's gorgeous version. Among other things, where Ciardi, an Italian-American who had a magnificent grasp of both English and Italian, frequently translated Dante word-for-word *and* preserved Dante's rhyme-scheme, Pinsky's rhymes are often less than elegant, and even when a word-for-word translation would be possible and appropriate, he paraphrases Dante rather than making a literal translation. The best part of Pinsky's translation, however, one I found very useful since the quotes I take from Dante for my own writing must be in the original Tuscan, to avoid copyright problems, is that unlike Ciardi's version, Pinsky also includes the original Tuscan text for comparison. That's extremely useful. Ciardi's magnificent version is not, unfortunately, bilingual, so if I want to see how Dante's original text compares to Ciardi's version, I have to switch back and forth between Pinsky's version and Ciardi's, which is more than a bit of a nuisance. But though his translation of the COMEDIA falls somewhat short of Ciardi's, Pinsky's version is still very, very good, and it does have that bilingual feature that Ciardi's version lacks.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this did not strike me as heavy as I thought it might. Not sure what I was expecting, but this book did not fill me with dread at the scary sights nor did it seem to enlighten me too much. I think it would have been a lot more interesting if I was familiar with 13th century italian history and culture, as politicians and public figures from this era are often the featured characters in hell. The notes in the back are very helpful in this regard, but it just didn't have much oomph for me. I did find it interesting how Pinsky performed the verse translation to come up with a rhythm and rhyme in English. Christine enjoyed this one a lot when she read it in High School, so perhaps its one where you need a real literature aficionado to help you appreciate it.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

One page in English, the opposite page in Italian. This is the translation to have (at least that's a review I read, so that's why I got it.) Man, were they morbid back then, have nothing on the Saw series.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

How can you not love Dante?! I read it in high school and we recently revisited it as our bed-time book, and I think it was even better the second time around though it would have been helpful to have my h.s. English teacher explaining some of the hidden meaning now and then.

[Eliza Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from it being a who's who of biblical, classical, and mythological allusions, like Paradise Lost, this work is alluded to by such a plethora of literature and art that followed, it is a MUST read. And I should say, it was more enjoyable than Paradise Lost. You should know this book.

[Theresa Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I significant book in my life time. I have spent hours going back to it, amazed by the vision and the horrific descriptions of the various levels of hell. One of my favorites...