with Rutgers web sites to accessibility@rutgers.edu or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier or Then one day, the young woman, Beatrice, in reaction to rumors of the poets increasingly worldly ways, refrained from the greeting, causing anguish in the young Dante. I'm a bit biased in favor of Sayers' translation, as that's the one that introduced me to Dante in the first place. It's also a poetry translation, as opposed to prose translations. 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 Divine Comedy is the most well-known piece in Italian literature. To redeem, copy and paste the code during the checkout process. Report Accessibility Barrier or Provide Feedback Form. When Dante wrote the poem we call "The Divine Comedy," he called it simply the "Commedia": a story, beginning in sorrow and ending in joy, of one man's journey from hell . . Phi Beta Kappa 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 . ", 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. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is an epic poem in Italian written between 1308 and 1321 that describes its author's journey through the Christian afterlife. Canto V is when Dante has descended into the second circle of hell. "There is no young man's version of this translation. TheDivine 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. Not only are constant rhymes difficult to translate, but Dante also uses rich and ambiguous language in his poems. "They're faithful, they're accurate, they're scholarly, but the actual raw poetic thrill of the verse doesn't get through, and that's what I think the translator must try to do if he or she can. 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. A third choice is a translation written in blank verse (iambic pentameter). 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. In her own time she was better known for her hydrangeas. With pity swooned, and fell like a dead corpse. Im using Allen Mandelbaums translation while writing my Masters thesis. Provide Feedback Form. When I reconciled myself to that, I was off and running. Sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa He produced one of the first complete, and in many respects still the best, English translations of The Divine Comedy in 1867. But Clive James is also a novelist, humorist, essayist, memoirist, and radio and television host who has been called his own one-man renaissance. ", He calls the quatrains a "nice, easily flowing rhythmic grid on which to mount the individual moments. Breaking the poem down to its parts, getting to know the characters one or two at a time, learning the themes and language of these individual elements, can give you the traction to begin enjoying Dante and eventually take on his whole poem. the Flesh. Touchstone (2006): 26-32. Talking about a translators approach and methodology can help answer the question. Copyright 2023, Rutgers, The State University of The Divine Comedy. [1] The three cantiche [i] of the poem, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, describe hell, purgatory, and heaven respectively. Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine. 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. She is beloved for her sweeping. 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. The first translation was written by Charles Rogers in 1782. Divine Comedy Comparisons. The grading is as follows: 3 = perfectly faithful, 2 = defensible paraphrase (same basic meaning), 1 = dodgy paraphrase, 0 = unforgivable paraphrase (putting words in Dante's mouth). His translation of the Divine Comedy (especially Inferno and Purgatorio) is one of my favorite translations of anything. I think Hollander is the most poetic. 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. John Ciardi (1954) Dante wrote his masterpiece on the move, banned from Florence by political enemies. The Divine Comedy is a 14th century poem that has never lost its edge. Both translations by Rogers and Dayman, are kept in poem style. They also both have good notes (a necessity). Although Roger chose to remain faithful to the source text, some lines were more poetically translated by Dayman. I agree, Dorothy Leigh Sayers translations are done wonderfully. The Divine Comedy is also a work of literary beauty that is beyond being antiquated by time or diminished by repeated translation. He's seeking absolution, redemption and certainty. Thanks! from the straight pathway to this tangled ground. Mandelbaums astonishingly Dantean translation, which captures so much of the life of the original, renders whole for us the masterpiece of that genius whom our greatest poets have recognized as a central model for all poets. Take, for example, the last few lines of the the fifth Canto, the famous: Dante My favorite version is by Mark Musa (written in blank verse). But in English, he writes, the word stars has very few words with which to rhyme. Heres Dantes original: Even without an Italian dictionary at hand, most of the words in these lines can be puzzled out by English speakers, except, perhaps smaritta, which means something along the lines of obliterated or just lost from view. An amateur literal translation can go a long way but doesnt sing. By Paul Bruckman . Oct 19, 2015 at 21:03 . I just saw the great discussion about the Iliad and I thought I'd ask my question about. I wasn't thrilled with either Mellville or Longfellow. But they are incorporeal shades, lacking the one thing that made their passionate earthly love possible: a physical being. Provide Feedback Form. Hence their eternal torment, with Paolo in a silent stream of tears, Francesca pouring out an ocean of self-defense. I'm going to third the choice of John Ciardi. Joseph Luzzi teaches at Bard and is the author of My Two Italies, a New York Times Book Review Editors Choice, and In a Dark Wood: What Dante Taught Me About Grief, Healing, and the Mysteries of Love. 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. It proceeds on a journey that, in its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience, has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity. Charles Eliot Norton on the other hand wrote his translation in 1902 and decided on a completely different style opting for an almost prose-like version of the text. 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. 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. 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. "Which is that of the three books of the Comedy that's 'Hell,' 'Purgatory' and 'Heaven, 'Hell' is the most fascinating, in the first instance, 'cause it's full of action, it's got a huge three-headed dog, it's got a flying dragon, it's got men turning into snakes and vice versa, it's got centaurs beside a river of blood; you name it, 'Hell' has got it. But what makes this an interesting comparison is that Daymans translation maintains the terza rima, while Rogers does not. 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. September 26, 2019 Provide Feedback Form, Rutgers, The State University of We'll go over the different features and what to look for when you're shopping. "I think I always wanted to translate Dante, but I always knew there was a problem," James tells NPR's Scott Simon. 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. For more information about the Divine Comedy, view our Divine Comedy Page Enjoy! Dantes The Divine Comedy is one of Italian Literatures most frequently translated texts, it has literally been being translated for over hundreds of years. The vlog form of a blog I did in July 2021, discussing translations of The Divine Comedy (what to look for, general issues, best-known versions). "But I'm determined to get this message across, because I really had to face this for decade after decade as I thought about how to translate it." Submit your nominations for the 2024 NEH Jefferson Lecturer, NEH Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities nominations. 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. Individuals 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). When, out of nowhere, I heard: "Watch your step! In the very first line it is noticed when Dante writes Cos discesi del cerchio primario(34), Rogers translates it to From the first circle we descended down(17), which is a more faithful translation than Dayman writing So I plunged downwards from that upper ring(35), which is a more communicative way of translating. I don't remember ever reading Mandelbaum but I believe my daughter used both Mandelbaum and Hollander in College and she preferred the Hollander. Which I still am. or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier or I felt the necessity for understanding, for redemption, if you will, and I think some of that went into my reading and my writing. This nineteenth-century blank-verse version by Longfellow sounds surprisingly modern: For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Many have translated the work, and there are many ways to go about translating Dante. 1994), was edited by Giorgio Petrocchi. SUBSCRIBE FOR HUMANITIES MAGAZINE PRINT EDITION Browse all issuesSign up for HUMANITIES Magazine newsletter. I agreebut Dante is the opposite. with disabilities are encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any 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). In the first place, shes not speaking to Dante in a natural voice; shes alluding to poetry. How? 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. Posted in Books, Dante, Divine Comedy The Divine Comedy in translation. Translations that attempt to maintain any type of rhyme scheme often sound forced and usually compromise the meaning of the text. The Divine Comedy, translated by John D. Sinclair: This was recommended by a fellow reader on Twitter and I am so glad I bought the complete set. Provide Feedback Form. Liveright Publishing A sinner, in the manner of a brake, So that he three of them tormented thus. The bottom of hell waits for him who extinguished our lifereferring to her husband, the nasty Gianciotto or John the Lame, who murdered Paolo and her on the spot when he discovered them in flagrante after their fateful reading. (And wood is rhymed with rude at the end of the first line of the next stanza, so we know Sayers is attempting to replicate Dantes rhyme pattern ofaba,bcb,cdc, et cetera.). I really enjoy the extra insights I receive from his notes, summaries, and essays. Prose translations are great for communicating the story and its nuances, however any poetical structure is lost. The latest has been undertaken by a writer who is perhaps best known for his pointed and funny criticisms of culture. Longfellow succeeded in capturing the original brilliance of Dantes lines with a close, sometimes awkwardly literal translation that allows the Tuscan to shine through the English, as though this foreign veneer were merely a protective layer added over the still-visible source. That interlocking pattern continues throughout the cantos and is one of the works most distinctive aspects. 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 NEH had funded many Dante-related projects, including 17summer seminars for schoolteachersto study theDivine Comedywith scholars through the University of Vermont. lamor che move l sole e laltre stelle. That's the version I read and those bleak covers, Barry Moser ink washes, were ubiquitous in freshmen dorms. The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is . Long translations from the Divine Comedyare provided following the original Italian verse, and where necessary in the analysis the Italian is referenced. accessibility issues with Rutgers web sites to accessibility@rutgers.edu 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). I couldn't have done it when I was younger. This page allows you to compare five passages from seven verse translations side by side. Dante Alighieri's great work tells the tale of the author's trail through hell each and every circle of it purgatory and heaven. 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. .. The translators scored as follows: Longfellow, Singleton (27) Sinclair (26) Mandelbaum (25) Simone, Sisson (23) Hollander, Kirkpatrick (22) Lombardo (21) Three passages are from the Inferno, one from Purgatory, and the last from Paradise. now my will and my desire were turned, . Missing is Dantes dico or I mean which is crucial to the meaning of him clarifying what he has already said. 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. Daymans translation reads When that we read so true-hearted/ Kissing the smile so coveted before,/ And he who wrotethat day we read no more which is a more romantic way of writing the story, and it feels to be more in the spirit of the source 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 On the 750th birthday of Dante Alighiericomposer of the dizzyingly epic medieval poem the Divine ComedyEnglish professor John Kleiner pointed to one way of helping undergraduate students understand the Italian poet's importance: an "obvious comparison" with Shakespeare. 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. New Jersey, Report Accessibility Barrier or Hilary Mantel, one of Britains most revered novelists, died last year at the age of 70. Again, it might come down to your trust in a translators skill in keeping up the rhyme pattern. Inferno, Canto I. Here are Clive Jamess first lines: At the mid-point of the path through life, I found. In other words: treat the poem as Dante the character treated his journey, something to be undertaken step by step. And its hard enough to read Dante without throwing in the additional challenge of 19th-century poetic diction. accessibility issues with Rutgers web sites to accessibility@rutgers.edu Dante was transformed by his grief and vowed to write in Beatrices honor a poem unlike any ever written. Rather than write a strained couplet to close each book, I wrote a final line in which the stars indeed show up, but not as the last word. Bang is led in another direction, hewing to a definition of translation by Walter Benjamin: A translation, instead of resembling the meaning of the original, must lovingly and in detail incorporate the originals mode of signification, thus making both the original and the translation recognizable as fragments of a greater language., Translator Robert Wechsler observed that the foreign writers work looks like gibberish, or would if we ever saw it. ", Clive James is both an Officer of the Order of Australia and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
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