divine comedy translation comparison

Privacy Policy, Photo-illustration from Sandro Botticelli's portrait of Dante by Stephanie Bastek (Wikimedia Commons), Hilary Mantel, one of Britains most revered novelists, died last year at the age of 70. Unlike the other author he supposedly shared the world with, Shakespeare, Dante was self-consciously scholarly and intellectual, filling his verses with allusions to ancient, biblical, and contemporary medieval writing, and tackling a range of theological, philosophical, political, and historical issues. These things are always hard, choosing between manner and matter , Your email address will not be published. I believe there are many points on which Dante had disagreed with the Church teachings of his times. Translated by Charles Rogers, London Printed by J. Nichols, 1782. https://archive.org/details/infernoofdantetr00dantuoft. Dante wrote his masterpiece on the move, banned from Florence by political enemies. The Divine Comedy, after all, is a poem, and its meanings are contained as much in sound as in "sense." Verse translations require more courage, and more thinking, because they are generally . Translations that attempt to maintain any type of rhyme scheme often sound forced and usually compromise the meaning of the text. The Divine Comedy, Part 1: Hell (Penguin Classics) Paperback - June 30, 1950 by Dante Alighieri (Author), Dorothy L. Sayers (Translator, Introduction) 105 ratings See all formats and editions Paperback $16.00 Other new, used and collectible from $1.43 The first volume of Dante's Divine Comedy It did not hurt that Longfellow had also experienced the kind of traumatic lossthe death of his young wife after her dress caught firethat brought him closer to the melancholy spirit of Dantes writing, shaped by the lacerating exile from his beloved Florence in 1302. During one Spirit was relating this, Individuals Scam Advisory: Recent reports indicate that individuals are posing as the NEH on email and social media. Part of the problem lies in the difficulty that Dante poses for English translation. Francesca tells Dante that she and Paolo, began reading Lancelott, and when they got to the part where the characters in the story finally kissed, Francesca committed adultery towards her husband. I'm going to be reading The Divine Comedy soonactually, re-reading Inferno and re-starting Purgatorio and finally getting to La Paradiso.I've opted to go with the Robert and Jean Hollander translation. Only a dense cage of leaf, tree, and twig. And I was so fascinated with what she told me, about how Dante's verse worked, that the idea never left me, that I should try to make my own poetry as interesting as that. with disabilities are encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any Any other translations you'd like to recommend are fine with me. But long before rehabilitating Thomas Cromwells reputation, Mantel was unparalleled in her crystalline dissections of power, whether between girls at the University of London or Dantonists in the French Revolution. The Divine Comedy has a complex rhyme scheme that suits itself well to the rhyme-rich language of Italian (where, unlike English, many words end in vowels). The content of Dantes writing presents an even bigger problem. But in English, he writes, the word stars has very few words with which to rhyme. But the musicians performance doesnt look anything like a score; the two couldnt be any more different. Dante's Inferno -The Webpage of Author David Lafferty. ", James was diagnosed in 2010 with both leukemia and lung disease, and he jokes that both conditions are conspiring to kill him even as he speaks. In spite of first impressions favoring Sayers, most readers who choose to make the entire journey from inferno to purgatory and finally paradise ultimately find the Mandelbaum translation more satisfying. I was lost. New Jersey, Report Accessibility Barrier or Despite her prettiness, her sweetness, and her eloquence, she is like every other sinner in hell: its never their fault, always someone elses. Dayman kept the terza rima, but in doing so he had to be more free with his translation. . Lets start a comparison of translations with the first three lines of Canto I of theInferno(theres no hiding for the poor translator, with the original Italian usually on the facing page). By Sergio M. Brattich | Dante's Commedia. by Dante Alighieri and Clive James. I wasn't aware of Benigni's TuttoDante -- sounds very interesting. So I'm interested in doing a first read of Dante Alighieri's La Divina Commedia and I'm not sure which English translation I should choose. Allen Mandelbaums translation goes like this: When I had journeyed half of our lifes way. . Albert Russell Ascoli received an NEH summer stipend andfellowshipto do research that resulted in his 2008Dante and the Making of a Modern Author, and a grant to the University of Virginia helped expand teaching resources of theThe World of Dantewebsite. The Pinsky is usually (maybe exclusively) sold parallel to the original, so you'll get a sense of that as you go along. Nichols, Hollander and Sinclair are the best translations I have come across, They all combine accuracy with poetry and readability. Her creative leap is to begin with the word stopped and end the third line with I was lost, emphasizing the predicament in the original and elaborating the image of the dark wood. The others are in three line verses like the original. They never confess their guilt, the one thing necessary for redemption from sin. I found it easy to use. ", And that kind of interest is what most translators lack, James adds. ed. What, for us, would really be paradise? Scarce the ascent Began, when, lo! I have no vested interest in selling a particular authors work, my recommendations are just my personal opinion. This Everymans Library editioncontaining in one volume all three cantos, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradisoincludes an introduction by Nobel Prizewinning poet Eugenio Montale, a chronology, notes, and a bibliography. Dantes The Divine Comedy is one of Italian Literatures most frequently translated texts, it has literally been being translated for over hundreds of years. (Health!). Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a8f4a384ba33ac344b9ce9fe46addd00" );document.getElementById("dbe0089594").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. You can revive it by posting a reply. Hilary Mantel, one of Britains most revered novelists, died last year at the age of 70. Oct 19, 2015 at 21:03 . The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri: 9780679433132 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books This Everyman's Library edition-containing in one volume all three cantos, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso-includes an introduction. | ISBN 9780679433132 Dante requires what Nietzsche called slow readingattentive, profound, patient readingbecause Francescas sparse, seemingly innocent-sounding words speak volumes about the kind of sinner she is. This topic is not marked as primarily about any work, author or other topic. Just for joining youll get personalized recommendations on your dashboard daily and features only for members. Creator of Dante Explorer September 25, 2019 That's why we've put together this ultimate guide to help you make a decision. Hollander: a more contemporary translation of The Divine Comedy that I've heard great things about but it can get pricey with each section in a separate book. Choosing which translation of Dantes Divine Comedy to read is a very subjective and personal decision. New Jersey. Mandelbaum is writing in blank verse (although here the first and third lines rhyme, that is not indicative of the whole), so youre faced with a choice: Do you trust the efforts, strained at times, of the translator who remains loyal to the form, or opt for a more natural-sounding version? But Longfellows English can sound flowery to our contemporary ears. Both translations by Rogers and Dayman, are kept in poem style. In comparing these two translations, the Sayers version seems to win out in two waysit matches Dante in form and, to a degree, in content. This provides the reader with the sounds of the original as well as Musa's translation, which captures the meaning but reads with a different spirit. Your email address will not be published. At the other end of the spectrum are straight prose (spoken word) translations. For what it's worth, here's an excerpt from a New Yorker review of Paradiso: It shows that translation loss remains inevitable, whether it be in rhyme, ambiguous meaning, or simply losing the melody of the target language. from the straight pathway to this tangled ground. Francesca, by citing the poem and the Sweet New Style, is saying: it wasnt my fault, blame it on love. View all posts by Dave. 1994), was edited by Giorgio Petrocchi. This topic is currently marked as "dormant"the last message is more than 90 days old. I will use this prose translation the next time I do a complete reread of Dante. Shortly thereafter, Beatrice died. She is beloved for her sweeping. ", James' wife, Prudence Shaw, played a central role in the translation project. Many have translated the work, and there are many ways to go about translating Dante. The first translation was written by Charles Rogers in 1782. or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier or "Back in 1964, when we first knew each other in Florence, before we were married, there was a romantic scene by which she took me through the actual great love affair between Paolo and Francesca in Canto Five of 'Hell,' and showed me how the verse worked in Italian, because her Italian of course was perfect already and mine was rudimentary," he remembers. And lo and behold, that's what we were doing. Which in the very thought renews the fear. Prose translations are great for communicating the story and its nuances, however any poetical structure is lost. Born in 1265 in Florence, from which he was banished in 1302, dying in Ravenna in 1321, Dante set the Divine Comedy in the year 1300, when he was thirty-five years old and 'in the middle of our mortal life'. The Divine Comedy, finished by Dante Alighieri in 1320, is one of the most famous literary works of all time, and its author is considered the father of the Italian language. Rutgers is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. His translation of the Divine Comedy (especially Inferno and Purgatorio) is one of my favorite translations of anything. Best English Translations of The Divine Comedy. And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week. Dante Alighieri (12651321), Italys greatest poet, was born in Florence and belonged to a noble but impoverished family. Rogers Dante was transformed by his grief and vowed to write in Beatrices honor a poem unlike any ever written. Provide Feedback Form. And the challenge for the translator is to reproduce Dante's fascination with theology, which for him was just as exciting as all that action that he left behind in 'Hell.' Not only are constant rhymes difficult to translate, but Dante also uses rich and ambiguous language in his poems. She may have only translated the Inferno Im not certain on that. To him in front the biting was as naught. a panther, nimble, light, And cover'd with a speckled skin, appear'd, Nor, when it saw me, vanish'd, rather strove To check my onward going; that ofttimes With purpose to retrace my steps I turn'd. The hour was morning's prime, and on his way Aloft the sun ascended with those stars, That with him rose, when Love divine . But the miracle of literature is that its insights can somehow remain fresh and relevant centuries after they were written and far from where they first appeared. To redeem, copy and paste the code during the checkout process. I really enjoy the extra insights I receive from his notes, summaries, and essays. Also, Anthony Esolen has an interesting article published: Esolen, Anthony. Rutgers is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. The Divine Comedy in translation (what to look for, comparison of opening lines) - YouTube The vlog form of a blog I did in July 2021, discussing translations of The Divine Comedy. For example, he translates Dantes beautifully compact Paradiso 2.7. Also included are forty-two drawings selected from Botticellis marvelous late-fifteenth-century series of illustrations.Translated in this edition by Allen Mandelbaum, The Divine Comedybegins in a shadowed forest on Good Friday in the year 1300. Taking a look at two translations that are 120 years apart can shed light on some of the differences that translators have used when interpreting this famously complex and intricate text. When translating the Divine Comedy, the translator often has to choose between capturing the original meaning or capturing the poetry, often choosing an intermediate between the two. He first met Bice Portinari, whom he called Beatrice, in 1274; she inspired his most famous poetry, including the Vita Nuova, which More about Dante Alighieri, The English Dante of choice. Hugh KennerExactly what we have waited for these years, a Dante with clarity, eloquence, terror, and profoundly moving depths. Robert Fagles, Princeton UniversityA marvel of fidelity to the original, of sobriety, and truly, of inspired poetry. Henri Peyre, Yale University, Sign up for news about books, authors, and more from Penguin Random House, Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network. In conclusion, Nortons translation may have radically dropped the poetic format of The Divine Comedy, however writing in prose allowed him to stay more faithful with the content in the work whereas Rogerss translation is better suited if the reader would like to experience reading Dantes work as a poem, that being said even the structure used by Norton alludes many times to poetic verse. This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. It's nice to compare, and if you're interested in learning the language, it's a great way to get some personally meaningful immersion. That's why we've put together this ultimate guide to help you make a decision. Looking specifically at Canto V, we will examine that there are different methods that go into translation, as seen in the translations by Charles Rogers (1782) and John Dayman (1865). I could feel that there was a closure on its way, and I was examining my life, and I wasn't particularly satisfied with what I saw when I examined it. In comparing translations, you notice quickly if theres an attempt to duplicate Dantes terza rima, in which the first and third lines rhyme, and the second line rhymes with the first line of the following stanza. Breaking the code of The Divine Comedy with patient reverence. And then there are all those characters! The Divine Comedy is a 14th century poem that has never lost its edge. My favorite version is by Mark Musa (written in blank verse). Taking a look at two translations that are 120 years apart can shed light on some of the differences that translators have used when interpreting this famously complex and intricate text. The surprising historybehind the worlds most famous collection of folk tales. With one deft allusion, one lyrical dance amid the ferocious winds in the Circle of the Lustful, Dante delivers a magnificent psychological portrait of Francescas path to damnation. It brings together literary and theological expression, pagan and Christian, that came before it while also containing the DNA of the modern. The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia; Italian pronunciation: [divina kommdja]) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. For the straightforward pathway had been lost. It may also soften the oft repeated and harsh judgmenttraduttore, traditoreor translator, traitor.. You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime. The Divine Comedy has a complex rhyme scheme that suits itself well to the rhyme-rich language of Italian (where, unlike English, many words end in vowels). He's seeking a knowledge that his life has been worthwhile. "That will, of course, be clear to you," he said. .) that keeps the pattern going forward, naturally to the ear. SUBSCRIBE FOR HUMANITIES MAGAZINE PRINT EDITION Browse all issuesSign up for HUMANITIES Magazine newsletter. by the love that moves the sun and the other stars. The Best Books to Get Your Finances in Order, Books Based on Your Favorite Taylor Swift Era, Cook a Soul Food Holiday Meal With Rosie Mayes, Aug 01, 1995 He combined a lot of dialects into the thing we now know as Italian. like a wheel in perfect motion, encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any accessibility issues I had the energy, but not the knowledge, and not the knowledge of myself, because Dante is worried about himself. And thats the miracle of Dante: somehow his writing still makes sense seven centuries after it was conceived, so long as we manage to read slowly, between, behind, and around what he called his versi strani, strange verses. I couldn't have done it when I was younger. Start by treating The Divine Comedy not as a book, with a coherent, beginning, middle, and end, but rather as a collection of poetry that you can dip into wherever you like. Sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa laltro pianga; s che di pietade A third choice is a translation written in blank verse (iambic pentameter). now my will and my desire were turned, Posted in Books, Dante, Divine Comedy The Divine Comedy in translation. In other words: treat the poem as Dante the character treated his journey, something to be undertaken step by step. We are experiencing technical difficulties. These lines have the virtue of being faithful to the original content, and then the next line continues with a rhyme (The keening sound . Three passages are from the Inferno, one from Purgatory, and the last from Paradise. Dante asks her why such a courteous and well-spoken creature as shea highborn lady who had fallen for Paolo innocently enough one day when they were alone together readingcould find herself among the damned. It's also a poetry translation, as opposed to prose translations. Please try again later. New Jersey, Report Accessibility Barrier or Love absolves no beloved from loving, she explains, adding: Love brought us to one death. While Rogers does not maintain a rhyme scheme, nor Dantes famous hendecasyllable structure per se, he does opt for using a classical English poetic meter, the iambic pentameter. But 'Purgatory' and 'Heaven' have mainly just got theology. Thus, Longfellow demonstrates the scholarly chops necessary to convey Dantes encyclopedic learning, and the poetic talent needed to reproduce the sound and spiritthe respiro, breathof the original Tuscan. Permission required for reprinting, reproducing, or other uses. Rutgers is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. Report Accessibility Barrier or English, he says, is a "rhyme-poor" language compared with Dante's Italian. gi volgeva il mio disio e l velle, Theirs is the one that keeps coming up when looking for a good verse translation. When I reconciled myself to that, I was off and running. Talking about a translators approach and methodology can help answer the question. Her methodology comes from picking up a book of poems by Caroline Bergvall and reading Via (48 Dante Variations), a found poem, she writes, composed entirely of the first three lines of theInfernoculled from forty-seven translations archived in the British Library as of May 2000). So whats the contemporary reader to dohow best to approach Dante 750 years after his birth? Henry Boyd produced one of the early English-language translations of The Divine Comedy; it was published in 1802.Notable translations of the 20th and early 21st centuries include those by John D. Sinclair (1939-48), Dorothy L. Sayers and . There are a lot of different Best Dantes Divine Comedy Translation in the market, and it can be tough to decide which one is right for you. Another example would be in line 7 8, Dico che quando lanima mal nata li vien dinanzi, tutta si confessa, which it s quite fully translated in Nortons, I mean, that when the ill born soul comes there before him, it confesses itself wholly whereas in Rogerss, Wheneer a guilty soul before him comes It all confesses :: (He the proper place). Theyre easily the most accessible and enjoyable of the translations Ive seen. The following version appears to be in Terza Rima: La Divina Commedia / The Divine Comedy - A Translation into English in Iambic Pentameter, Terza Rima Form. Right now I'm choosing between Ciardi, Mandelbaum and Hollander. That interlocking pattern continues throughout the cantos and is one of the works most distinctive aspects. Thus began Dantes famed journey, one that would take him through the depths of hell. | .. I wondered how else one could say Midway through our life, I found myself in a dark wood; the right way was lost., Both James and Bang are poets. His translation keeps the nel mezzo element up frontandduplicates the terza rima, continuing the next stanza with, How hard it is to tell of, overlaid . I'm going to third the choice of John Ciardi. Many have translated the work, and there are many ways to go about translating Dante. Dorothy Sayers translation is, in my opinion, one of the finest translations that maintains the original ryhme scheme, is imminently readable and classic and is blessed further by knowledgeable, interesting and useful notes. . These breathtaking lines conclude Dante's Divine Comedy, a 14,000-line epic written in 1321 on the state of the soul after death. John Ciardi (1954) Clive Jamess 2013Comedyuses quatrains and augmented quatrains as its building blocks, while Mary Jo Bangs 2012 translation of theInfernoin colloquial American English, carries elements of her own style, and is unrhymed. Ultimately, its great to read a few and decide which version you like best, each has strengths and weaknesses. ", He calls the quatrains a "nice, easily flowing rhythmic grid on which to mount the individual moments. accessibility issues with Rutgers web sites to accessibility@rutgers.edu While the one spirit said this, the other was so weeping that through pity I swooned as if I had been dying, and fell as a dead body falls. These two lovers, condemned to an eternity in the Circle of the Lustful, pose a heart-wrenching questionone, as I wrote in my In a Dark Wood, that those of us who have lost our earthly loves know all too well: how do you love somebody without a body? By Paul Bruckman . The other day I was at a bookstore trying to pick a translation of. "So there we were, actually duplicating the situation in the canto, because the two lovers are reading a book that's what brought them together. . And he said to me: "The whole shall be made known; And he: "All this will be made plain to you. It can be overwhelming to see so many versions all lined up, spine to spine, along a shelf in a literary bookstore, or to scroll through pages and pages of different editions online. Provide Feedback Form. He did most of the translation work before becoming seriously ill, "but I could feel the end of my life coming. The three parts of the Divine Comedy - Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso - are an expression of faith undertaken to the glory of God, and a demonstration of the use to which God's gifts can be put. Mandelbaum, will, in fact, interject rhyme if its not forced (as he does with way and stray). Out of the two I've read (Charles Sisson. Individuals with disabilities are Copyright 2023, Rutgers, The State University of The Divine Comedy. Paolo and Francesca are technically together, as they whirl around like doves summoned by desire in Infernos punishing winds. A little less structured than the original (although differences in the languages are responsible for that) It's a recent translation, so you don't run into the archaic usages you'd find in Longfellow. To understand why Dante faints in Inferno 5, you have to realize just how surreal it was for him to hear Francesca cite the poetry of his youth, the words that helped make him poet and that hastened Francescas demise. T. S. Eliot called such poetry the most beautiful ever writtenand yet so few of us have ever read it. Submit your nominations for the 2024 NEH Jefferson Lecturer, NEH Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities nominations. A collection of 100 poems to be exact, one for each canto, some more sublime than others. Its not easy to break the code of The Divine Comedy, a work steeped in a medieval Christian vision that can cause readers like Victor Hugo to avert their eyes from its more celestial passages. The Italian language the Italians speak today is largely Dante's invention. I agree, Dorothy Leigh Sayers translations are done wonderfully. Perhaps nowhere is this economy of expression more evident than in the justly celebrated canto of the star-crossed lovers, Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta. Pinsky does leave you hanging after the Inferno, though. Dante uses a complex rhyme scheme, called the terza rima, which is were there are stanzas of three lines that contain interlocking rhymes at the end of each line; the rhyme pattern follows: ABA-BCB-CDC. "There is no young man's version of this translation. And its hard enough to read Dante without throwing in the additional challenge of 19th-century poetic diction. Posted on July 5, 2021 July 4, 2021 by Carrie-Anne. In exile, he paid homage to his true love, Beatrice, and by choosing to write in his Tuscan vernacular instead of Latin, transformed the Italian language. Required fields are marked *. The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is . The translation is so similar, the result is a palimpsest, two works, one on top of the other, an original and a performance, difficult to tell apart. Seeing translation in this light, may help decide which Dante to read. The Books Alexis Patterson Is Loving Right Now, 27 Childrens & YA Books Written by Asian Authors, Browse All Our Lists, Essays, and Interviews. The verse. Famed translators Pevear and Volokhonsky reach another milestone. It may be grossly unfair, I admit, to try to judge merely on the first canto or even the first or second stanza, but decisions made in the first few stanzas determine the shape of the rest of the work. Copyright 2021 It calls upon the reader to ask: What would be our personal hell? Rodgers translation reads When, reading that her captivating smile/ Was by the Lover she adored kissd;/ But from that day we never read int more, which is awkward to read for a modern day English speaker. lamor che move l sole e laltre stelle. About the Author. Looking specifically at Canto V, we will examine that there are different methods that go into translation, as seen in the translations by Charles Rogers (1782) and John Dayman (1865). Since the poem appeared, and especially in modern times, those readers intrepid enough to take on Dante have tended to focus on the first leg of his journey, through the burning fires of Inferno. The standard critical Italian edition of the poem, La commedia secondo l'antica vulgata (1966-67; rev. This page allows you to compare five passages from seven verse translations side by side. 12> I agree that Ciardi is the most readable. So deeply did the other mourn, that I Jorge Luis Borges said that a modern novel requires hundreds of pages for us to get to know a character, while Dante can lay bare a characters soul in 20 or 30 lines. The Divine Comedy is a fulcrum in Western history. Dorothy Sayers rendered the first stanza this way: Where the right road was wholly lost and gone. Provide Feedback Form, Rutgers, The State University of

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