The Inferno (The Divine Comedy series Book 1)

I have collected several different translations of The Comedy over time and I think the Hollanders' translation which is accompanied by the Italian original is best. The extensive notes that are included are wonderfully helpful. I supplement the translations with Giuseppe Mazzotta's 'Reading Dante' which is based on his course at Yale and is a rich exploration of the topics in The Comedy. Hope this is found to be helpful!

Love the diglot (Italian literature aside English translation, which is NOT the literature but a careful rendering of it into another language). Map of hell near front assists the reader on Dante's and Virgil's excursus to the 9th level of hell. Wonderful foreward by Robert Hollander, who Dante at Princeton for 42 years.

Jean and Robert Hollander's edition of Inferno is outstanding in every way. The translation is well-suited to the modern reader and seems to follow the Italian quite closely. The synopses preceding each canto are very useful and Hollander's analyses are exhaustive, interesting and complete with detailed references to earlier analytical works. The detail and extent of the analyses is remarkable. Hollander's commentary on the text is much more detailed than any other edition with which this reader is familiar, and the analyses are clear, interesting and well-referenced.For the serious student of Dante, this e-reader edition perhaps sets the standard for its ready access to the Italian and to the commentary. The default mode for each canto is the english text with links to the left for the corresponding original Italian. To the right are links to Hollander's analyses, line by line. Click on the link and the relevant Italian or annotation appears. Having read and studied the poem both with the Hollanders' hard-copy edition, the electronic version is far more user-friendly than scrambling back and forth through twenty or more pages to find an annotation and then return to the text, only to find another annotation in the next line or tercet.It might be of interest to also view the youtube videos of two Robert Hollander lectures at the University of Dallas. He is complete FULL of Dante. His enthusiasm and humor are infectious while transmitting a scholarly approach. Hollander says that Dante only offends two groups of people, non-believers and believers! This highlights one important aspect of this great poet, Dante's statement that Commedia is theological, not poetic allegory. This means that the narrative is claimed by Dante as to be literally true.This e-book is a gem and a bargain.

Who questions Dante, for heaven's sake?! Characters are "one-dimensional"? Of course they are not, but they are not "developed" as contemporary fiction dictates. Are they "complex?" You betcha. In any case, this translations is perfect except for the notes being difficult to access as there is no book ribbon to hold the place. But who complains about one of the foundation pieces of Western civ, I ask you?

I'm pretty sure this is what anyone that doesn't speak Italian wants out of an Inferno translation.1. There's facing page Italian so you can do the Milton thing. You really can understand what the Italian is saying, and when you read it, you can get some idea of what an incredible achievement the Comedy really was. The poetry itself is astounding, but you have to read the Italian to get it - and to understand why it's untranslatable.2. The translation is fairly literal. This time, the translation is there to tell you what the Italian actually says instead of serving as a clever solution to the poetic problems posed by translation. Nobody is going to pull off a translation into a Germanic language that conveys Dante's vowel heavy Italian rhyming. We would not translate Palestrina into Bach, please give up on this.3. The notes are written to interpret the poem. Instead of merely providing historical background to the obscure personages, the notes provide readings across the past 700 years on difficult lines. That's one heck of a resource. I wish I had that for poets in English; I might actually read the stuff.4. There's actually literary criticism. One of the revelations from the critical work here is how much Dante is making fun of the Virgil character. You see him get mad, plot and scheme, become boastful. It's really pretty hilarious. I never got a sense of that before, but it's pretty obvious once you start looking for it. That adds a completely different flavor to the poem. Like most great works, part of the reason it's great is because it's funny. Maybe not Milton. Screw Milton.I've always liked the Inferno, but I feel like I must have been missing huge themes. Not even really sure why I liked it. Read this, you'll have a whole new take on the poem. I'm waiting on the next two volumes.

This translation of The Inferno, the first canticle of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, by Robert and Jean Hollander, is one of the best that I've read. Their English version of the Comedy is fast and straightforward, sticking close to the original text but adding vigor to what can sometimes be very bland in English. Having read the Comedy numerous times in many different translations, I didn't expect to be swept up in it again as I was. The Hollanders have done us a great favor with this translation.The notes are copious and excellent, presenting numerous perspectives on textual, symbolic, narrative, and historical issues in the Comedy. A line-by-line breakdown of each canto is at the beginning of each, and charts detailing the layout of Dante's Hell help organize a narrative that can be infinitely confusing to the beginner.Highly recommended for beginners and seasoned fans of Dante alike.

Great translation with lots of notes. Very informative, maybe too many points of. Views in sections. I would suggest reading the poem fully then looking at the notes on the second read. The ebook was very well organized

Since first reading Dante's COMMEDIA at university some 20 years ago I have read many different translations. Regrettably this one, the best by far in my opinion, had not been published then.Robert Hollander (described in the New York Times as "one of the pre-eminent Dante scholars of our time") and his wife Jean, an accomplished poet, have provided the reader with informative notes and commentaries on the text, which has the Italian text displayed on the left hand side and the English translation facing it on the right hand page. The Hollander INFERNO was first published in 2000, followed by the other two parts of the COMMEDIA, PURGATORIO and PARADISO, in 2003 and 2007 respectively.This is highly recommended for committed readers, it is not something to be read whilst lying on a beach or on a bus journey, it requires time and concentration, not to mention the space to lay out related texts by authors referred to in Dante's work, such as Aristotle, Cicero, Homer, Ovid, St Thomas Aquinas and Virgil, and the Bible.I'll leave you with a couple of comments extracted from reviews of the Hollander translations of the INFERNO and of PARADISO:"Nevertheless, the Hollanders’ translation is now the best on the market. So, if you want to read the Divine Comedy, get this version."from Joan Acocella's review of PARADISO, New York Times, 3 Sep 2007...it's worth reading the whole review if you can find it."With any translation of the Inferno, one can quibble ad infinitum, if only because the original just cannot be pinned down. But the Hollanders’ translation is a welcome addition, and, when one comes to all these versions fresh from a rereading of the original, it seems the most accessible and the closest to the Italian."Tim Parks, review of INFERNO 15 January 2001, The New Yorker...again, it's worth reading the whole review if you can access it.Highly recommended.

My first foray into "the classics" could not have been a better choice - indeed, I think I may have spoiled myself by choosing one of the best first! Dante's work is fantastic, which suprised me as I am not a fan of poetry, and the additions provided by the editors were immensely useful. I recommend that if you are new to Dante, you read through the whole poem by itself first, then read it again, but using the explanations provided after each section to clarify some of the more obscure points. Although I had originally thought this version of the text was illustrated, I am now pleased it isn't, as it allows the reader to use their imagination to the fullest. Although I have no idea how a seasoned literature expert would view this book, for a beginner it is magnificent!

I am not a well read man, and when I say 'well read', I mean I have had not read many classical novels or poems etc. And before buying this book, these such thoughts were going through my mind:"Oh, I've never read a poem before in my life, I probably wont understand it""Commentaries? Urgh, but they were such a bore in school"Despite these thoughts, I bought this translation of the Inferno anyway, and I couldnt have chosen better.The poem is tranlated brilliantly, because I understand it, and I can feel it. Simple as that.The commentaries after each Canto are not dull or boring at all, because they are not only interesting, but are a humungous help. On first reading a canto on its own, I could understand it yes, but after reading the commentary with it, I understood it even more, and understood the depths behind it.I had great fun reading this book, its entertaining for a good read and even contains some good humour, both in the poem itself and in the commentary.All in all, if like me you're not an English literary expert. Do not worry! The poem is a joy to read (considering where its based) and the commentaries explain it so well, that it felt like I had Mr and Mrs Hollander sitting next to me explaining what it all meant as I went along.So in a way, as I read about Dante's trip through hell with Virgil as his guide, I took a trip through hell, following behind Dante and Virgil, with Robert and Jean Hollander as my guide.My Recommendation: Buy it!

I really like the Italian on the one side and translation on the other, thats a really dope feature. Its getting pretty good, and I like how the ‘translator’ explains some of the lines after the cantos. Ive been steadily reading it, but it takes a while to read the Italian and also the english.

Cover was scrunched. Keeping it anyway.