The Inferno of Dante Alighieri

Rating:
Summary: Hell of a good book
Review: Anyone at all familiar with Carson's previous work would have expected his version of the Inferno to be a brilliant accomplishment and a not-to-be-missed event. They will not be disappointed. The translation is simply stunning, capturing the fire and guts of Dante in a series of vivid, visceral phrases and images. Carson's version is both literary and cinematic; it also maintains a strong narrative line -- something very few translations manage (particularly those which, like this one, stick to the original rhyme scheme.)

It is, of course, a translation, Carson's work (and spiritual autobiography) as much as Dante's. Literal translations of greater and lesser fidelity are available (as is the original Italian text, for those who can enjoy it), but to my mind it's more interesting to see what one creative spirit can do with the work of another. So if Carson says 'my life' where Dante said 'our life', it's a choice, not an error; Dante may have felt himself to represent the human community, but Carson, caught in the predicament of modern man, must go it alone. (This is not to deny, of course, that the reader goes with him; hw could it be otherwise?) Indeed, his journey is all the more perilous: for Carson, unlike Dante, lives in a world where heaven is doubtful, but where hell, in various forms, is dismayingly real.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Wrong Wrong Wrong
Review: The first line in the Inferno is "Nel mezzo del camin del nostra vita." This translates roughly as "In the middle of the journey of our life." The first line in this translation is "In the middle of the journey my life." Translational freedom aside, "nostra" is the Italian possessive pronoun for "our" not "my." Part of the point of the Inferno is that the reader goes with Dante and Virgil. Changing "our" to "my" cahnges the entire point and tenor of the poem. When a translation has this glaring an error in the first line, it does not bode well for the rest of the text. On a less academic note, this version does not have the original Italian on the opposite page. Even to non-speakers, the original language is still beautiful to read in comparison to the English. My opinion in the world of Dante scholars may not carry much weight, but for what little weight it has, this translation is bad bad bad.

Rating:
Summary: Riotously funny (and moving, too)
Review: This translation of Dante's Inferno is a great read -- something I never thought I'd say. Most others I've read have been reverent and stately and mostly lacking in forward momentum. This one drives forward with gusto. By freeing himself from the constraints of "appropriate" diction, Carson is able to use the full resources of the English language to retell Dante's story. (All that, and he maintains the terza rima rhyme scheme too!) I imagine that some people will dislike the colloquial, almost bantering tone of the translation, but I loved it. I've tried re-reading the Inferno for many years, and I always fizzle out around Canto VII. This time I ploughed straight through -- and found it challenging enough that I'm going back through with pencil in hand and making notes in the margin. (The translation itself is lightly annotated -- enough explanation to keep oriented, but not so much that you become overwhelmed with details about the Guelphs and Ghibellines.)