Best Translation of The Divine Comedy?

I just saw the great discussion about the Iliad and I thought I'd ask my question about The Divine Comedy. It seems there are just dozens of translations out there. Can anyone recommend a great translation of Dante?

I really loved Robert Pinsky's translation of the Inferno, for readability. It's also a poetry translation, as opposed to prose translations. 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. The Pinsky is usually (maybe exclusively) sold parallel to the original, so you'll get a sense of that as you go along. (I've studied only other Romance languages, and found it useful) Pinsky and Longfellow are both poets, themselves, so you get some artistry from either one. Pinsky does leave you hanging after the Inferno, though. I just went for the most heavily annotated versions of Purgatorio and Paradiso.

The best translation I've found -- end to end -- is by John Ciardi.

It's a poetic translation that's very faithful to the original, insofar as that's possible when translating Italian terza rima into English. No archaisms, very straightforward, every bit as much power as the original.

What is a good translation of Milton's Paradise Lost?

Anyone read The Cure?

#4 -- we'll just assume that's tongue-in-cheek.

At a reading a few years ago I asked Robert Pinsky if he was going to translate the remaining books, and he gracefully ducked the question by directing me to W.S. Merwin's verse translation of the Purgatorio.

I really enjoyed Pinsky's Inferno translation, but never did read Merwin's Purgatorio translation.

I read Dorothy L. Sayers for Inferno, what I believe was Robin Kirkpatrick for Purgatorio, and Sayers again for Paradiso. Sayers' work was excellent, but I did not like the Purgatorio translation, especially as it was in prose.

Out of the two I've read (Charles Sisson, inferno and Paradiso; John Ciardi inferno and Purgatorio) I liked John Ciardi the best. I think he was better able to communicate the gruesomeness of hell.

I've only read one, but Mark Musa's Penguin classics translation seemed pretty good to me...

What's the consensus on Allen Mandelbaum's translation? That's the version I read and those bleak covers, Barry Moser ink washes, were ubiquitous in freshmen dorms.

I'm going to third the choice of John Ciardi. Mind you, I haven't read any other translations for comparison (plus, I'm still in the middle of Purgatorio), but I found it eminently readable and engaging, with many very helpful footnotes.

12> I agree that Ciardi is the most readable. I think Hollander is the most poetic. I wasn't thrilled with either Mellville or Longfellow. I don't remember ever reading Mandelbaum but I believe my daughter used both Mandelbaum and Hollander in College and she preferred the Hollander.

The other day I was at a bookstore trying to pick a translation of The Divine Comedy from all the editions available there. I opened all the editions to page 100, read and compared them against each other, and finally decided on the Mandelbaum Everyman's Library edition. The fact that it's in one volume, as apposed to three separate volumes, is also a bonus.

I'm going to be reading The Divine Comedy soon—actually, 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. Theirs is the one that keeps coming up when looking for a good verse translation.

For what it's worth, here's an excerpt from a New Yorker review of Paradiso:

"...the Hollanders’ translation is now the best on the market. So, if you want to read the Divine Comedy, get this version. Then spend another twenty-two dollars to buy John Ciardi’s translation (Signet paperbacks)—good but not as good as the Hollanders’—and use it for its excellent, no-nonsense notes. Ciardi will tell you what Jephthah’s vow was. In a few minor matters, his facts disagree with Hollander’s, and Hollander is probably right, but who cares if a Pope whom Dante alludes to in passing is Boniface VIII (Ciardi) or John XXII (Hollander)?"

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2007/09/03/070903crbo_books_acocella

I'm a bit biased in favor of Sayers' translation, as that's the one that introduced me to Dante in the first place. Excellent notes, too!

I like Pinsky's as well, and, though I have not read it, I have been told that the Hollander is excellent. When I heard Roberto Benigni's lecture on Dante, that was the one he used, which is certainly a recommendation.

I wasn't aware of Benigni's TuttoDante -- sounds very interesting. Too bad it doesn't look like there are any recordings of the show.

I've heard a lot of personal (as opposed to media) recommendations for Sayers.

I have a copy of Pinksy's Inferno. I read it quite a few years ago and something about it put me off. And it may have been the notes more than the verse. As I recall the notes had a relatively condescending tone towards Dante and his milieu.

> 17

I haven't been able to find any recordings of the lecture portion of the show, but there some with his recitations of various cantos. Here's Canto V.

>18 lilithcat:

Great! Thanks for the link.