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Summary: "...All ye who enter here..."
Review: I was turned on to Pinsky's translation by reading Thomas Harris's "Hannibal".This is probably the closest thing to a definitive English translation of Dante's Inferno. Great for a novice, anyone familiar with The Devine Comedy, or any lover of poetry in general.
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Summary: Eminently Readable and a Whole Lotta Fun
Review: If you're one of those readers who runs screaming from the Epic Poem because (a) the poetry is too hard to read or (b) you're worried you won't understand all the allusions, metaphors, or get the really dirty hidden jokes . . . well, then, Robert Pinsky's highly entertaining translation of this classic poem is made just for you.Pinsky does his best to maintain the poem's terza rima structure -- and his "Translator's Note" at the beginning of the book will help you appreciate just how difficult a task that is -- but those accustomed to reading straight prose will hardly know the craft to which they're being exposed. While Pinsky does indeed keep to the integrity of the terza rima, the text remains eminently readable. And if you're one of those readers who has a tendency to take a slight mental pause at the end of each line of poetry (a real problem, I find, when rhyme is involved), then you'll appreciate how Pinsky's careful enjambment keeps things moving along in a manner that sounds natural to ears accustomed to modern-day spoken English. No forced rhymes or wacky syntax here. And for those concerned that they may get lost among Dante's political, historical, and literary references, this translation comes with top-notch notes by Nicole Pinsky that help put everything into their proper context. Sure, there are times when you don't really care which obscure Italian pickpocket is getting his comeuppance in Hell -- but more often than not, the notes are an invaluable companion to the poem. There's also an intriguing topographical map of Hell included near the front of the book that you'll find yourself marking with your thumb for easy reference as you journey from one Ring of Hell to another. But while the Pinskys definitely keep the show moving from the wings, it's Dante who's the real star here, and modern readers who have never experienced the Inferno before will be surprised at how versatile Dante can be. Dante's Hell is a place where the punishments truly fit the crime -- where those who professed in life an ability to see the future are doomed to walk the Rings of Hell with their heads turned around backward -- and Dante pulls no punches when it comes to describing the punishments inflicted on Hell's inhabitants. Fans of the modern horror novel will find lots of familiar elements in here, as demons fight each other in mid-air over bungled chances to punish souls, as men turn to beast and vice versa, and as Dante and his guide encounter a forest filled with trees which are actually the transformed souls of suicides. It's creepy stuff. But there's also a bit of romance, redemption, and a really good fart joke. Whether its thoughtful ruminations on the nature of God's will, retribution, and Man's place in the City of God, or just the thief Vanni Fucci giving God the finger, there are more than enough bits in here to keep even the most casual reader interested. And more serious readers will likely find themselves turning to this translation again. In other words, even if poetry's not your thing, you may still want to check out this translation of a classic. You won't be disappointed.
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Summary: A most readable Dante.
Review: It goes without saying that The Inferno is one of the great masterpieces of Western culture. That being the case, Pinksy, not Dante, is the focus of my review. This was the third translation of The Inferno that I have read (Mandelbaum and Ciardi being the others), and it is by far the most graceful of the group. I was particularly impressed with his handling of that ever present problem: the rhyme scheme. His solution to the problem is fluid and faithful to the original text (something Mandelbaum's rhyme-free translation lacks), without being distracting (as I found Ciardi's to be). But, what is truly amazing is that he is able to maintain this scheme without ever sounding forced or contrived. This allows Pinsky's tranlsation to remain first and foremost, a poem, which is so crucial in realizing the true genious of Dante's work. I was also pleased with Pinsky's decision to put a line of white space between each triplet. This really helped to accentuate the pacing and structure that make terza rima so important. The inclusion of the Italian text is also a nice touch. Finally, the notes are concise and informative. While Mandelbaum's notes seemed to me a little too thorough, often glossing the obvious, these give pertinent information without ever condescending to the reader. My only complaint would be that Pinksy stopped at the Inferno. I firmly believe that one must experience a work of art in its entirety in order to fully experience its brilliance. This is very true of the Divine Comedy. While there are certainly plenty of Purgatorios and Paradisos out there, I would very much have liked to have been able to maintain the continuity of a single translator. While there is a long list of translators who provide this option, I regret that Pinksy is not among them.
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Summary: A marvelous translation of a book that defines "the canon"
Review: It has been said that Dante and Shakespeare do not belong to the Western canon: they ARE the canon. Certainly, after nearly seven hundred years, Dante's COMEDY retains its power to move, inspire, and delight. But what stands out most about this masterpiece is how accessible and readable it remains. If one reads other masterpieces that are contemporary with it, the contrast is stark. It is almost as if the centuries do not stand between him and us.
Robert Pinsky's translation is a truly remarkable rendering of the first part of Dante's masterpiece. The worst criticism that can be made of it is that it is the only part of the work that he has translated so far. I do not know that he plans on translating PURGATORY and PARADISE, but anyone reading INFERNO will pray that he will. Like any translator of Dante, Pinsky had to make some decisions about how he was going to proceed. Although many point out that he decided to employ Dante's terza rima, this isn't quite true. Yes, he does maintain the rhyme scheme, whereby the final syllable in the middle line of each tercet rhymes with the final syllable of the first and third lines of the next tercet (i.e., a-b-a, b-c-b, c-d-c), he doesn't employ Dante's meter. There is, in fact, no meter at all, and therefore the lines do not scan at all and therefore contains no rhythm. I found, in fact, that I couldn't read this aloud as poetry at all. It is, however, a marvelously dynamic prose. If it possesses none of the rhythm of poetry, the translation does have a marvelous, driving prose rhythm, and one feels the text moving forward with a deliciously irresistible pace. If one compares Pinsky's dynamic translation with that of Dorothy Sayers, say, which was also an attempt at an English terza rima translation, one will understand the point.
In addition to the superb translation, one gets in this volume many of the other goodies one anticipates in any decent version of Dante. The intro is written by one of the dean's of Dante scholarship, John Freccero, who also assists with some of the notes to the text. The notes, though not exhaustive, are exceedingly pertinent to the text. They lean away from minute commentary on every aspect towards focusing on those things that a reader truly needs to get through the text.
The story itself needs little elucidation. Dante, driven into a dark valley by three beasts, finds himself at the mouth of hell, where the poet Virgil, alerted indirectly by the Virgin Mary herself to save Dante, leads him on a trip through hell and purgatory, at the end of which Dante's beloved Beatrice meets him and takes him through heaven. It was an often-employed genre, not least by Virgil himself, but Dante surpassed all of his predecessors. Interestingly, although the INFERNO is the most popular of the three books, it is also the least personal. In this volume Dante is primarily an onlooker, an observer. In PURGATORY, on the other hand, each step through purgatory is an opportunity for Dante to examine his own life. Luckily, Dante is the greatest of observers, and the world his tells us of has a vividness and concreteness that is nothing short of genius. Over and over one is astonished at Dante's genius in the world he imagines. There is also a wonderful contradiction, in that what he imagines is horrific--the punishment of the damned for their sins, with some of the punishments extraordinary in their inventiveness--but his character's interaction with the damned is for the most part oddly respectful and frequently compassionate. He does on a couple of occasions treat the damned with hostility, but that it is the exception. What is especially amazing is his relative tolerance towards Jews and Moslems. There are Jews in hell, but their presence there seems to have less to do with being Jewish than in having committed specific acts. And although one ring of hell contains burning mosques containing the souls of Moslems, and there is a particularly vivid encounter with Muhammad and Ali, Dante isn't seized with any particular bloodlust towards the religion as a whole. In fact, in limbo, where he encounters the righteous pagans, we find three notable Muslims: Saladin, Avicenna, and Averroes.
There are a host of great translations of Dante, but this is definitely one of the translations that can be most highly recommended to those approaching the text for the first time.
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Summary: From an infrequent reader's point of view
Review: It is late this evening. I have been reading reviews and articles dealing with the late Hunter Thompson. Somehow I thought of the Divine Comedy (Dante's Inferno) this evening. I have not read the book in 4 or more years but it has stuck with me like hardly any other. I am not a big reader. I found the book in a music store dumpster (that's what fun is when you love in a small redneck town) and was captivated. I had heard of the book and decided to keep and indulge in its offerings. On a strange note, I had recently gotten into Tori Amos' album "Little Earthquakes". I began reading the book, lying on the floor, simultaneously listening to Little Earthquakes on repeat. Not to sound like Dark Side/Wizard of Oz but the two really compliment each other very well. For anyone interested in this novel/poem I highly recommend listening to Little Earthquakes while reading it. Or for music lovers out there who have already read the book, go back and read it again under the influence of Little Earthquakes. It is an eerie yet beautiful experience I cannot forget.
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Summary: My high school students found this a real page turner
Review: It says a lot that of all the books we read during the year in a rigorous English curriculum, many of my best readers picked the Pinksy Inferno as their favorite book of the year. I'm a Mandelbaum fan too (I still like his Aeneid since it's by far the closest to Virgil's Latin and was even helpful when I worked on translating books 4 and 6), but I prefer Pinsky's rendition of Dante's poem. It makes the text alive for generations of new readers. My class appreciated Nicole Pinsky's notes at the end of the book which add greatly to students' comprehension of historical background and context. Hats off to Pinsky for a great work of art that has made Dante more accessible to a new generation of potential fans.
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Summary: Dante's passion, grace and fire is captured
Review: Mr. Pinsky's translation of The Inferno is a masterpiece. Most English translations of foreign-language poetry capture the literal sense of the poem but lose much of the liguistic magic of the original work. I have read recent translations of the works of Fernando Pessoa and Pablo Neruda and I have been amazed at how much of the original beauty is lost in translation. Mr. Pinsky succeeds at the near impossible but creating a translation that captures the poetry, beauty, horror and humor of the original. He does so by developing a credible English equivalent of Dante's terza rima structure. This is a poem that not only captures the themes of the original but the power of its language. His beautiful translation is meant to be read aloud and does great justice to the original. Now if we could only get Mr. Pinsky to take on Pessoa.
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Summary: Splendid
Review: Pinsky captures the poetic texture of Dante's original and continues the legacy of one of the greatest books ever written. Unless you're fluent with Italian, this is the way to go.
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Summary: A beautiful and laudable translation of a great classic
Review: Pinsky's verse translation is absolutely splendid. The words seem to flow off the pages with a grace that is unparalleled in many of the modern translations that find their way into circulation. Reminiscent of the Loeb Classical Library, the Italian text is found on the opposite of the English translation and if perchance the reader knows Italian they may find this an added luxury. Pinsky has done an excellent job of keeping the translation simple yet beautiful at the same time. Dante may be considered advanced reading by some, but Pinsky's translation is simple enough that it could be read and enjoyed by many from junior high on up. I would highly recommend this translation of Dante to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent translation...
Review: Pinsky, a superb poet in his own right, provides an utterly fulfilling read with his translation of Dante's Inferno. He succeeds not only in conveying the tone of the work admirably, but also in preserving the terza rima (a triplet rhyming pattern: aba bcb cdc) which henceforth has been so difficult to replicate in English. The bilingual edition of the text is beautifully laid out and makes for easy reference. Pinsky, and the contributing authors who supplied the explanatory notes, clarify some of the obscure Catholic theological and sociopolitical references abundant throughout the text. All in all, this translation is both aesthetically pleasing and technically proficient, though the serious student may find it helpful to read the text side by side with the more literal translation of Mandelbaum.
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