The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno

Excellent translation for a novice reader.

The Divine Comedy has long been on my bucket list of books to read and I am very happy that I chose to buy Musa's translation of the first volume, The Inferno. In short, Mark Musa makes The Inferno very accessible to the everyday reader. His introduction before the text provides some historical background of the time and religious/political situation in which Dante lived and wrote and this helps the reader understand a bit about life in Renaissance Italy. He then follows up with his translator's notes, in which Musa spells out his intentions and methods in translating the text. Good stuff to know and very helpful for understanding the context of the story. The most helpful part of Musa's translation was that before each Canto, he would give a brief preview summary of what happens in that particular Canto. Then at the end of each Canto, he has a section of notes that explain things in the text that might not be clear to everyone, such as the backstories of the shades that he encounters and references to other texts and works of literature. Having the summary and notes bookending each Canto made them extremely easy to follow and understand. His translation abandons the rhyme of the original in favor of conveying the narrative. This might bother some purists but not having to force rhymes at the end of every line leaves the translator a lot of room to make sure that the reader can follow what is going on in the story. I couldn't believe it, but I read through this centuries old work of Medieval literature just as quickly and easily as I would any modern novel. Musa's translation made that possible.

If this is your first introduction to the Divine Comedy then this is the translation you should get. Very readable with an excellent introduction and notes explaining everything you need to know to enjoy this great poem.

Virgil and Beatrice are Dante's primary guides through the Divine Comedy, but I thank the heavens that I chose Mark Musa as my companion through this journey, as I could hope for no more faithful and illuminating guide through Dante's thought-provoking, fascinating, but often difficult masterpiece. About the Comedy, I can say little more than what others have already said better than I could anyway. I personally found the Inferno and Purgatory to be the more interesting books, both in terms of the surface-level action as well as the higher-level ideas and allegories ... Paradise was a little more of a challenge to get through--after graduating from the Earthly Paradise, I felt like I pretty much "got it" already ... Paradise felt a little superfluous, if I may dare to criticize a classic--but after journeying that far, one must go all the way. I just can't say enough about Musa's clear translation and very helpful notes, which helped me through more than a few impenetrable lines, stanzas, and entire cantos along the way. The Comedy is a masterpiece of world literature, a work that should be read by all, but one that I had put off for quite some time due to the intimidating nature of its length and subject matter--worried, perhaps, that the famous "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" warning applied as much to the general reader of Dante as to the souls of the damned. Yet, thanks to Musa's help, I found the Comedy to be a pleasantly entertaining and enlightening work, and perhaps even more surprisingly, an exciting "page turner" as the classics go.

Absolutely amazing work by a brilliant poet, translated by an equally amazing translator! I've read a couple different translations of The Inferno, but this translation by far was superior to the others. The Inferno, and the Divine Comedy as a whole, can be a notoriously hard read, as it was not only written in the 14th century, 700 years ago, but also written in Italian, a form of language that was still being developed at the time of The Inferno. Mark Musa has done an excellent job of translating The Inferno into a language that we can understand, while doing his best to not lose the original meaning of Dante's words. Some things, of course, cannot be accurately translated over, but even then Musa tells the reader of these instances so that we may better understand the brilliance of Dante's work. He also includes several, very helpful diagrams of the different circles of hell and their accompanying rings/malebolgia, if applicable. True to the term "confusing as Hell," you can easily get lost in Dante's Inferno and/or not understand how Hell is laid out. This is especially true after the fifth circle, when suddenly next four circles have different rings, malebolgia, or areas within them that can get to be quite expansive. I would definitely recommend that anybody looking to read The Inferno, but concerned over if they could understand the language and the constant references Dante makes to people and landscapes, should most certainly read Mark Musa's translation of the classic Inferno.

No translation will have everything. I am not familiar with all by a long shot, but it's likely all with miss Dante's music. An obvious criticism here is it is not in terza rima. Let this be an acknowledge shortcoming, but there is compensations. English does not have as many rhymes as Italian and it's rhymes are usually more emphatic, so it's hard to maintain Dante's light, swift strokes with that such breadth and diversity using terza rima. Further, obligating the poem to rhyme with set syllables can force the translator into padding or adjusting the poem to the expense of pace and vividness. I am not implying that translating with terza rima will be a failure. There is pros and cons to both. What I like most about the Inferno is the pace, the vivid and vigorous visual imagination which no poet surpassed in range or intensity. If it means to sacrifice terza rima to attain this, do so. I speak for myself and feel this translation does an outstanding job in doing so.

The translation maintains much of the original's poetic nuance, bringing to life the grotesque imagery and moral complexities of this iconic journey. The flow of the narrative can sometimes be disrupted by the dense references and the challenging structure of the verse.

Hey, it's fricken Dante Alighieri! Who could give him a bad review? It'd be akin to giving William Shakespeare a bad review. I thoroughly enjoyed this book because of the fabulous pictures he creates when describing the circles of hell. He does it in such a way that I felt as if I was with the main character, visiting each sect of hell, and viewing the horrors within for myself. He does it in such a poetic way (well..it IS an epic poem) that it's as if each stanza is an orange, which you're squeezing into your mouth to get the juices. Indeed, a weird way to describe it, but the artistic and beautiful way in which this is written makes me imagine just that. If you want to learn what each circle of hell is, have an adventure with the main character through each, and mentally experience each torture inflicted on the victims, get this book. It may be difficult for some, but it's well worth the effort.