The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, translated by Clive James, 526 pages
The Divine Comedy is undoubtedly one of the literary masterworks of Western
Civilization. It has been translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and
by Dorothy Sayers, illustrated by Gustave Dore and William Blake. It
has been adapted into blank verse, prose, a video game, and the origin
for the X-Men villain Belasco. So why do we need yet another version?
James' intent in this translation is to do something different - to produce a Divine Comedy
which is not an object for study, but a poem to be read. For this
reason, the book contains no footnotes. Some of the material that would
normally be included in footnotes is incorporated into the text, while
other information is simply left out, on the quite sensible grounds that
the reader of Dante's time wouldn't have caught every allusion,
either. While the intent is surely sound, it does diminish the
appreciation of the depth of Dante's work. The translation likewise
paves over Dante's archaisms, without being distractingly
anachronistic. The rhyme and meter are adapted from terza rima to
schemes more natural to the English language.
A good introduction to Dante for anyone intimidated by page after page of commentary, but also an interesting refresher for those already familiar with the poem.
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