The New Yorker
"Virgil's design for Dante, that he will 'grow used/to the sad stench,' for 'after a short while/human senses numb,' does not extend to this volume's readers; our senses are continually jostled and primed by the unexpected shifts in style."

Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, Editor, The New York Times Book Review
"What drew such disparate poets as Amy Clampitt, W. S. Merwin, Sharon Olds, Galway Kinnell, Mark Strand, C.K. Williams, and Alfred Corn into the translating project? The glory of the poem itself, the grand enterprise of making a work written 700 years ago beautiful for a new generation."

Publisbers Weekly
"It seems right that Dante would provide such an unusual meeting ground of cultures, eras, and writers: his voice took in many voices. Curious, questing, and provocative, this literary project should be a signpost to anyone who cares about language."


"Many hands have made, in the present case, not light but lasting work."



Language Notes
Text: English, Italian (translation)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This exciting new translation of Dante's masterpiece, considered by many the greatest poem ever written, brings together twenty of our most distinguished contemporary poets. One of the most important works of our literary and social imagination, Dante's Inferno has been translated by poets and scholars throughout the ages, but never before have so many talented voices worked in concert with each other and with Dante to produce this most compelling book of the Commedia. Dante's unique combination of formal and imaginative genius demands that only those in complete command of their own language should undertake to translate his. As James Merrill reminds us in his introduction, "masterpieces are timeless, but their translations date, and need redoing." This remarkable collaboration puts one of our "sacred texts" back into the hands of the keepers of the language, the poets themselves. Readers new to Dante will find a convincing and exciting tale of inner and outer exploration, and for the initiated, a Dante who speaks, in English, with a new lyrical power.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In this adventurous and stimulating experiment in translation, contemporary poets of quite varied persuasions--from Richard Howard to Deborah Digges--reconsider a looming ancestor, Dante. The 34 cantos of the Inferno are shared among 20 poets all known for their strong original work in English, and some, too, for their distinguished accomplishments as translators. The effect of the book is to summon a multiplicity of voices from the one, and to direct readers not only back to the source but to the varying tempos and temperaments of modern poetry in English. Some readers may, it's true, find the plurality of this Inferno engulfing, but it's difficult not to rejoice in such singular abundance. As a project in translation, this one is uncommonly educating, too, asking readers to make judgments on the various approaches and to decide for themselves what matters most about the poetry. In that sense, literary connoisseurship becomes a seemly match for the moral connoisseurship of Dante's work, where sins and sinners are mapped out with a horrifying vividness, harmoniously observed. All readers will have their own favorites, whether these are Cynthia Macdonald's sleekly vigorous Cantos VI and VII, the devastating elegance of Jorie Graham's XI and XII, or others. And yet, the point is finally the whole--the full company, and not the parts. (May)

Library Journal

This new version of the Inferno might be termed more accurately an ``interpretation'' of Dante rather than a translation. Contemporary poets ranging from Seamus Heaney to Carolyn Forche and W.S. Merwin have collaborated on this book, and poetic license reigns. The poet Daniel Halpern plainly states in the preface that the contributors ``were selected for the quality of their own poetry in English''--which is indeed the strength of the book. The fidelity to Dante's Italian varies, but the collection does succeed in carrying forth the spirit and lyrical power of the Inferno . Given the limits of our language in rhyme, the beauty of Dante's verse may never be equaled in English. As contemporary poetry inspired by Dante, this book is recommended. As a translation, it is recommended for strong Dante collections only. For a literal translation of the Divine Comedy , Charles Singleton's (Princeton Univ. Pr., 1970) and John Sinclair's (Oxford Univ. Pr., 1939) versions are still preferred.-- Robert Quartell, Michigan State Univ. Lib., East Lansing

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