Dante Alighieri

"Award-winning poet Mary Jo Bang has translated the Inferno at a moment when popular culture is so prevalent that it has even taken Dante, author of the fourteenth-century epic poem The Divine Comedy, and turned him into an action-adventure video game hero. Dante wrote his poem in the vernacular, rather than in literary Latin. Bang has similarly created an idiomatically rich contemporary version that is accessible, musical, and audacious. She's matched...

In this new edition Musa views Dante's intention as one of cruel and comic commentary on the shallowness and self-pity of his protagonist, who only occasionally glimpses the true nature of love. "" ... the explication de texte which accompanies [Musa's] translation is instructively novel, always admirable ... This present work offers English readers a lengthy appraisal which should figure in future scholarly discussions.""--Choice]]>

An introduction and notes accompany this classic epic poem about a spiritual pilgrim being led by Virgil through the nine circles of hell. This vigorous translation of Inferno reserves Dante's simple, natural style, and captures the swift movement of the original Italian verse. Mark Musa's blank verse rendition of the poet's journey through the circles of Hell re-creates for the modern reader the rich meanings that Dante's poem had for his contemporaries....