The Inferno

Rating:
Summary: One of the required. Ciardi's highly accessible transtlation
Review: A joy to read. Entertaining, funny, meaningful, introspective; couldnft put it down.

A seminal work. Much in philosophy, psychology, and literature has been a response or effort to bolster or discuss the implications of this book. Oscar Wilde, in De Profundis, sited his reading of this book with comfort and reflection of the difficulty of being without sin, as well as the Bible. T.S. Eliot called Dante one of the two greatest writers along with Shakespeare. Ruskin often refers to it as other writers do. It is called the Divine gComedyh of course it would have to be, but it something profound about psychology and human nature, of course not in absolutes or totality and much in psychology might disprove Dante, but psychology is not an absolute either, or perhaps more so, in that some parade themselves as having an absolute truth. A formative work.

Ciardifs translation was highly accessible, high school level, and Ciardi justified this by saying that this is the way Dante intended it, although Dante was master of his language and poetic style, it was meant to be an accessible reading, but stylistically Ciardi points out just what a master Dante was.

It was a bit amusing how Dante placed so many ecclesiastical people with malus animus in his hell, and also his observations about the post Constintine church.

Rating:
Summary: A Real Hell for Readers! " ...to know things to the core...
Review: This review relates to the volume -Dante: Inferno-; Translated,
Edited, and with an Introduction by Anthony Esolen. The Modern
Library. 2002/2003 paperback. 491 pp. [Dual language version,
Italian on left pages, English translation on right pages.]
What makes one English translation of Dante's -Inferno-
better than another? That is a question that each reader,
with his or her own educational background, tastes,
understandings, and desires to account for must answer.
I, personally, knew that I would like this version very
much when I picked it up, read the Modern Library's biographical
piece about Dante, and then began to read Anthony Esolen's
"Introduction." The Modern Library has given any reader
the solid, but brief, background to proceed on this
quest or pilgrimage with Virgil and Dante through the
Inferno, or Hell. The biographical piece immediately
tells the reader that "Dante Alighieri, the Italian poet,
whose great allegory -The Divine Comedy- has exerted
profound effect on Western literature and thought, was born
in Florence in May 1265. He came from a noble though
impoverished family, descendants of the city's Roman
founders. *** Dante probably received his early schooling
from the Franciscans and the Dominicans; later, he studied
rhetoric with the Guelph statesman and scholar Brunetto Latini.
Another significant mentor was the aristocratic poet Guido
Cavalcanti, who strongly influenced his early work." The
piece goes on to say that for the young Dante, writing
poetry became an important expression of his passion for
art and learning, and of his abiding concern with the nature
of love and spiritual fulfillment. That is surely a very
succinct and marvelous beginning, though there is much
more in the biographical piece.
But it is the "Introduction" by Anthony Esolen, which
entrances in this version, along with his translation
itself which is clear, compelling, easily understood,
and marvellously absorbing.
One knows the nature of the translation and the translator's
quality when he begins an "Introduction" to the -Inferno-
(the first section of -The Divine Comedy-) in this fashion:
"In Plato's -Phaedrus-, Socrates explains that true love
is a passion to behold not just a beautiful face or body,
but the eternal Form of Beauty itself. To make his point
he compares the soul to a charioteer and a team of horses,
one obedient and the other unruly. While the unruly horse,

representing appetite, strains to leap upon the beloved as
soon as he is in sight, the obedient horse, the 'spirit'
or 'ambition,' heeds the reins and the whip of the shuddering
driver, who recalls that eternal Beauty and beholds its
image with awe and reverence. Dante never read the -Phaedrus-,
but in a deep sense he is at one with Plato, for he too
believes that the goal of human life is to behold Beauty,
and he too believes that the way to that beholding is
traversed by love." Truly that is a wondrous way to
begin the journey, even to Hell -- or, perhaps, especially
to -- and through -- Hell ... toward, ultimately, Paradise.
This translation is excellent. The illustrations in the
volume are by Gustave Dore. There are 7 Appendices:
(a) Virgil, from the -Aeneid-; (B) From the -Visio sancti
Pauli- (The Vision of Saint Paul); (C) Thomas Aquinas,
from the -Summa Theologiae- (On free will; On the distinction
between mortal and venial, or pardonable, sins; On sins

meriting eternal punishment; On sins of weakness and passion;
Whether sins of deliberate will-to-evil are graver than sins
committed in a state of passion; Whether pride is the beginning
of all sin; Whether one beyond the age of discretion can be
guilty of original sin but not mortal sin; On grace as the
only remedy for sin; On the sinfulness of unbelief; On
whether unbelievers may be saved; On the proper object of
human hope; On hope in the damned; Peace as the proper
effect of charity; The lawfulness of vengeance; The
relationship of zealous love and vengeance; On the support
which anger gives to fortitude; On magnanimity and honor;
and others); from -The Compendium of Theology- (Chap. 104;
"The End of the Intellectual Creature"); (D) Dante, from
-De monarchia-; (E) Dante, from -Il convivio-; (F) Boniface
VIII, -Unam sanctam (1302); (G) Bertram de Born; "Be'm
platz lo gais temps de pascor."
There are also notes to the various cantos from pp. 407-490.
For myself, there are two touchstones of the poetry and
the quality of the translation which I particularly
pay close attention to: the beginning stanzas of the
-Inferno- and Canto Five, which deals with Paolo and
Francesca. Here is Anthony Esolen's beginning:
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself in a dark wilderness,
for I had wandered from the straight and true.
How hard a thing it is to tell about,
that wilderness so savage, dense, and harsh,
even to think of it renews my fear!
It is so bitter, death is hardly more --
but to reveal the good that came to me,
I shall relate the other things I saw.
----------------------
-- Robert Kilgore.

Rating:
Summary: Dante's pilgrimage through Hell.
Review: "Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself in a dark wilderness,
for I had wandered from the straight and true."
(Canto 1, ll. 1-3)

So begins Dante Aligheri's (1265-1321) notorious descent into the ten concentric rings of Hell. The INFERNO is not about wickedness and punishment, Anthony Esolen observes in the Introduction to his unrhymed, blank verse translation of Dante, "but about beauty and love: the terrible beauty of God which should arouse in man the most ardent love, and the ruin of beauty which the soul becomes when it turns that love elsewhere" (pp. xxii-xxiii). For Dante, the goal of human life is to know beauty, and the way to behold Beauty is through love; Hell is a place where no love can dwell (pp. xi; 423). Man's goal, Dante would say, is to dwell, body and soul, in the presence of God, enjoying the intellectual vision of God (PARADISO, Canto 14, ll. 43-51).

In the INFERNO, Virgil guides Dante the pilgrim poet through the depths of Hell, which is organized by the categories and subcategories of the sinners who dwell there. Dante first encounters the seven deadly sins on his journey, lust, gluttony, avarice, wrath and sloth, and then goes on to encounter even greater wickedness on his downward descent, before finally confronting the "evil worm" Lucifer, who flaps his wings while gnawing a hole into God's sweet creation. It is interesting to note that Dante considers violence a greater sin in that it violates the rights of God by turning creation into an arena of destruction (p. 437).

This was my second visit to Dante's Hell, though via a new translation. In his excellent Modern Library edition of Dante's INFERNO, Professor Esolen demonstrates through his insightful Introduction and endnotes that there are three fundamental principles that underlie Dante's view of the world and its beauty: that things have an end, that things have meaning, and that things are connected. Esolen is a professor of English at Providence College, and he has also translated Dante's PURGATORY for the Modern Library.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: The Inferno Is As Hot As It Sounds
Review: When we started reading this book, I thought "Oh great, another boring book to read." But my thoughts soon changed. Dante takes us on a journey to the middle of Hell and back. Throughout the book Dante creatively punishes the souls of the different circles and he makes the punishments fit the crimes. This is what I like the most about the book-that Dante makes the punishment fit the crime. I also enjoyed reading the small stories about each of the souls and how they got into the cirlce that they reside in. To find out what happens to everyone, read the Inferno.

Rating:
Summary: The Master of Disgusting!
Review: Dante is truely "The Master" when it comes to some of the digusting torments found in the various layers of hell throughout his Inferno. I must say that this book was interesting to read and the torments were creative. One deffinatly creative torment I thought was the Wood of the Suicides! As I got deeper into the book I noticed many similarities between torments of different classifications of sins, which leads you to understand the similarities of these sins. I do admire Dante's ability to describe the horror of The Inferno, as well as his enlightenment as to what the worst sins are according to Aristotle and other analytical thinkers.

Rating:
Summary: An Unforgettable Journey Through the Torment of Hell
Review: =====>

The "Inferno" is the first of three volumes of poet Dante Alighieri's (1265-1321) "Divine Comedy" (the other two volumes are Purgatory and Paradise). This volume (composed of thirty-four episodes) describes Hell and the suffering of the damned.

There is a historical introduction by Archibald MacAllister of Princeton. It's imperative to have a good understanding of Dante in order to understand his poetic masterpiece and MacAllister does a good job of detailing Dante and his times.

The late John Ciardi, former poet and professor at Harvard and Rutgers, translated (or more precisely transposed) this poem from its original 1300's Italian into English. He retains Dante's three line stanzas and there is still much rhyming. He not only relied on his own knowledge but leaned heavily on the knowledge of other scholars for his translation.

Dante's "Inferno" is a journey through the nooks and crannies of hell. Dante takes this incredible journey with his master and guide, Virgil. Along the way, Dante, Virgil, and the reader encounter such things as mythical creatures and people, legends, people of Dante's time, biblical figures, and human victims.

It is a narrative poem whose greatest strength lies in the fact that it does not so much narrate as dramatize its episodes. It is a visual work that sparks your imagination. This poem combines the five senses with fear, pity, horror, and other emotions to involve the reader. The result: the reader actually experiences Dante's situation and just does not read about them.

Ciardi's introductions in italics before each episode gives a brief summary of what to expect. His notes at the end of each episode highlight our understanding of key passages within each. For me, Ciardi's introductions and notes that accompany each episode are the cornerstone to understanding what Dante was attempting to convey.

Finally, there are illustrations in this book. These illustrations as a whole detail the nine circles (of ledges) of Hell. They further increased my understanding, and, as well, added another visual dimension to this poem.

In conclusion, if you want to experience Hell as seen through the eyes of a gifted poet, then read this book. Further, by reading this book, you will discover why this poem has endured popularity for seven centuries.

<=====>

Rating:
Summary: A Musical Translation
Review: I was introduced to Ciardi's translation of "The Inferno" in an anthology of continental literature I read in college. At that time, after experiencing fragments of Fagles' horrible "verse" translation of Homer's works, I had low expectations for the translations in that anthology.

However, the instant I started reading John Ciardi's verse translation of "The Inferno", my hardened heart once again began to beat with the vibrancy it had when I read poems of Wordsworth or Browning.

John Ciardi, with a poetic talent that seems to be unmatched -- except for what I've read of W.S. Merwin's "Paradiso XXXIII," -- creates a poetic flow that feels, tastes, and even smells Italian. A poetic flow that delightfully contrasts Fagles', whose poetic flow is limited by popular styles and even phrases of the 20th century.

Instead of trying to lift Dante to the 20th century, Ciardi gracefully carries us to the early 14th century.

Instead of assuming that Dante is arcane, old fashioned, and in need of John's own poetic help, he believes that the original Italian is fresh, exciting, and poetically graceful.

The translation of Dante would have been diluted if Ciardi were to try and bring the 14th century to us through the modernization of the language, symbolism, and even the geography of Dante's world. (Fagles even geographically modified his "Odyssey" at one point to rename a Greek river the Nile because readers may get 'confused'.)

I'm glad that Ciardi tries to bring us back in time when the universe was cosmically full of life, where even the stars were more than the mere byproducts of abstract forces, chance, that can only be systematically analyzed and dissected.

The medieval worldview is far richer than the purely logical and scientific mindset that's now common. By bringing Dante to us unfiltered by that mindset, Ciardi helps move us towards the bright and vibrant medieval world.

I strongly recommend John Ciardi's poetic translation of "The Divine Comedy" in completion. "The Inferno" is great, but only is complete when read with "The Purgatorio" and "Paradiso."

Rating:
Summary: A vivid story fit for reading ...
Review: THREE AND A HALF STARS

Dante Alighieri's famous INFERNO should be sitting on your bookshelf or should be on your list of books to read next. Dante takes his incredibly vivid journey through Hell, and relates it all to the reader with such honesty and passion that you cannot do anything but belieive his tale. Contradictions in his actions, (such as the pity he shows some shades of Hell versus the brute violence he uses against others), make him all the more human. This isn't just a description of the various circles of Hell ... this is an eye-witness account, (of sorts).

But although this is an incredible story, it didn't strike my immediate fancy, (though it does grow on you), and it wasn't the greatest epic poem I ever read. But read it anyway!, even if it is just because it is a "classic." You won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, terrible edition!
Review: Although this is the first printing by Signet Classic, June 2001, it is a terrible photo-typeset. It has all the appearance of a photocopy of a photocopy of a mimeograph.

The font is ugly, old, hard on the eyes, and was probably an original in 1954 when it was first published. Has any publisher bothered to re-typeset Ciardi's translation in the last 50 years?

Why, oh why, did I pay ... for the 3 volumes when it is such a horrible edition? Is John Ciardi's translation still copyrighted, or has it fallen into the public domain?

Save your money and find a new, fresh, typeset edition! Ciardi's translation is printed by a half-dozen publishers. Good luck.

Rating:
Summary: Dante's inferno
Review: Dante's Inferno is the best book ever written. Dante's trip through hell was extremely exciting. I read it a month ago, and it is still fresh in my mind. If you are squeamish this book is not for you. There is a lot of torture in hell and the author describes it in great detail. If you read this book you will love it. This book is exciting and will keep you up late into the night, and if you read it, it will be your favorite book too!