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The complete Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) in one volume from Vintage Classics. The greatest poem of the Middle Ages, in the standard Carlyle-Okey-Wickstead translation, with full notes.
Dante’s Divine Comedy relates the allegorical tale of the poet’s journey through the three realms of the dead. Accompanied through the Inferno and Purgatory by Virgil—author of the Roman epic the Aeniad—Dante encounters mythical, historical, and contemporaneous figures in their respective afterlives. Relying on classical (pagan) mythology and Christian imagery and theology, Dante imagines diverse vivid and inventive punishments for the various sinners he encounters, which have become part of the Western imagination.
Upon their approach to Paradise, which as a pagan, no matter how worthy, the Latin poet cannot enter, Virgil relinquishes his role as guide to Beatrice. Dante's chaste beloved then accompanies him along the ascent, as they encounter the blessed and the holy, and Dante arrives at a vision of the heavenly paradise.
“Exactly what we have waited for these years, a Dante with clarity, eloquence, terror, and profoundly moving depths.” –Robert Fagles, Princeton University
“A marvel of fidelity to the original, of sobriety, and truly, of inspired poetry.” –Henri Peyre, Yale University
Anonymous
Posted May 11, 2012
We are reading this translation of The Inferno in class (translated by J.C.), and it is wonderful.
However, I am confused Barnes and Noble......
Are you allowing for the same comments that are posted on one translation to be automatically posted on all the other versions? This isn't helpful, because readers may wish to compare one translation to another by reading the reviews...... That's what I was trying to do, to see which version of The Divine Comedy I wished to buy, but couldn't. I realize that I should probably post this in some forum online, and I will eventually. And of course, what I could be seeing is the result of spammers, but I don't think this is likely.
Anyway, I absolutely believe that this is a wonderful translation and would highly recommend it.
12 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 19, 2006
i have read a different translation of dante's inferno and found it to be nothing short of amazing. this translation, however, is nothing more than a glorified 'spark notes' translation. much is lost in ciardi's extremely over simplified translation. i would suggest this to a high school freshman who just wants to get though it. to a well-read student of literature, though, this reading is unfulfilling and meaningless.
9 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 14, 2007
how you like John Ciardi's version depends on whether you want an easier ead or not. he gives you a summary of the canto in the Inferno that i read by him which was very helpful for my first time, but he does leave out some details to make it more simple. if you want the more complex versions that involve a better translation, i would go for a different translater.
6 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 20, 2011
The book, of course, is a classic but I was very disappointed in the translation and added notes. I find Charles Eliot Norton to be very big on himself. I would recommend (for anyone wanted to read The Divine Comedy) to find a different translation.
4 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 12, 2009
Do not buy the eBook. It is not the John Ciardi translation.
4 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 20, 2006
I must say that Dante has gone past the norm of classical lit. He takes you through a world beyond what we can comprehend. He shows us what happens after our life. Written during his own last days he brings a whole new thinking to the after-life by allowing us to visualize what these places are like. I recommend this to everyone. A GREAT PIECE OF LITURATURE!
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 15, 2005
I generally find Mandelbaum's translations to be excessively wordy and this work is no exception. It is as if his sole goal is to sound grand. And he succeeds, in this at least, but often the verbosity detracts from the meaning of what the reader is reading... too many pretty words jammed together so tightly that the screen they're supposed to form form winds up opaque. I'd suggest the Longfellow translation for a more pared approach that still manages to maintain Dante's magnificence, or even Ciardi - the people I've spoken to seem to have a love/hate opinion about his work, but I find it alluring.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 28, 2010
I just downloaded the this ebook, and this is not the John Ciardi translation!
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 9, 2009
I Also Recommend:
I have read The Divine Comedy two times before, with difficulty, although it is a great story. This translation is the best I have seen, making this classic much easier to understand and stick with. My 14 year old granddaughter asked me about the book and was my incentive to buy it and read it again. To understand the characters you do have to keep flipping back and forth from the footnotes and the text, so to make it easier for her I have written the footnotes along the sides of the pages where they belong. So much mythology and ancient ways of living are incorporated into the book that it makes today's children uninterested in reading it because of the research needed. But as a classic it is worth the work and very stimulating to try to understand. Don't know if this makes any sense to you or not, but again a great translation.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 9, 2011
tootally sucks
1 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 17, 2008
This story is nothing more than one man trying to justify tearing apart others lives and the choices they make that he personally does not agree. While giving his own sins lighter punishments & less hellish placement in the inferno. Many of his characters were still alive at the time he wrote this which is evidenced by the fact that after its publication Dante was panished from his home. <BR/>The producer of this CD version "Blackstone Audio" is highly flawed. Several of audio CD's had no information on them - they are blank. Others were covered in a sticky glue that had to be cleaned before they would play. If you must have this for a class order a version from a different company!
1 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 26, 2007
Simply awesome...a must read.
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 12, 2007
As a freshman in High school, I fully uderstood what Dante, one of the greatest Italian poet, was reaching out for to say. And to who said it wasn't wonderful, you may want to do research on Catholicism, which Dante was a Catholic!
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 19, 2004
Dante is not only one of the best poets of all time, he is also one of the hardest to translate. Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, Dante is one of the authors you leave to higher reading levels.
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 16, 2001
This is a great disappointment. The reader lacks any dramatic range, natters on and on like a dotty old aunt through convoluted ideas, dialogue, and scenery. It is often a challenge to know which character is speaking, owing partly to very understated transitions provided by the translator. The publisher never does confess who the translator was, and fails to provide any supporting/critical materials such as the accompanying booklets in Penguin's Iliad and Odyssey readings which added so much depth to those (4 and 5 stars, respectively). I really wanted to enjoy this, but find I am loading each successive cassette more out of stubbornness than hopeful expectation.
1 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 20, 2013
great book
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Posted March 14, 2013
DID I MENTION I AM TRYING TO FIND A FREE ITALIAN TO ENGLISH TRANSLATOR
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Posted December 23, 2012
I find it to be a very good book i say everyone should read it you will find it very interesting and you will not be sorry you read it
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Posted February 27, 2012
good
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Posted January 29, 2012
All three books were amazing to have such insigh in Dantes books!
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Overview
The complete Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) in one volume from Vintage Classics. The greatest poem of the Middle Ages, in the standard Carlyle-Okey-Wickstead translation, with full notes.
Dante’s Divine Comedy relates the allegorical tale of the poet’s journey through the three realms of the dead. Accompanied through the Inferno and Purgatory by Virgil—author of the Roman epic the Aeniad—Dante encounters mythical, historical, and contemporaneous figures in their ...