The Inferno: A Verse Rendering for the Modern Reader. Historical Introduction by Archibald T. MacAllister.

Dante Alighieri / Ciardi, John.

ISBN 10: 0451627091 / ISBN 13: 9780451627094

Published by New York / Ontario / London, Mentor / New American Library / The New English Library., 1954

About this Item

11 x 18cm. 288 pages. Original softcover. Good condition with some signs of external wear and mild foxing. Annotations to text and to end leaves. [A Mentor Book]. John Ciardi, a distinguished American poet, has brilliantly rendered the Inferno into modern English, bringing it alive again with all the burning clarity and universal relevance with which the thirteenth century genius originally endowed it. The first part of Dante s Divine Comedy is many things: a moving human drama, a supreme expression of the Middle Ages, a glorification of the ways of God, and a magnificent protest against the ways in which men have thwarted the divine plan. One of the few literary works that has enjoyed a fame both immediate and enduring, The Inferno remains powerful after seven centuries. It confronts the most universal values good and evil, free will and predestination while remaining intensely personal and ferociously political, for it was born out of the anguish of a man who saw human life blighted by the injustice and corruption of his times. [Mentor] Sprache: english.

Seller Inventory # 91395AB

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Inferno: A Verse Rendering for the Modern Reader. Historical Introduction by Archibald T. MacAllister.
• Publisher: New York / Ontario / London, Mentor / New American Library / The New English Library.
• Publication Date: 1954
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451627091
• ISBN 13: 9780451627094
• Binding: Soft cover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Varia

About this title

Synopsis

Dante Alighieri / Ciardi, John. The Inferno: A Verse Rendering for the Modern Reader. Historical Introduction by Archibald T. MacAllister. New York / Ontario / London, Mentor / New American Library / The New English Library, 1954. 11 x 18cm. 288 pages. Original softcover. Good condition with some signs of external wear and mild foxing. Annotations to text and to end leaves. [A Mentor Book]. John Ciardi, a distinguished American poet, has brilliantly rendered the Inferno into modern English, bringing it alive again with all the burning clarity and universal relevance with which the thirteenth century genius originally endowed it. The first part of Dante’s Divine Comedy is many things: a moving human drama, a supreme expression of the Middle Ages, a glorification of the ways of God, and a magnificent protest against the ways in which men have thwarted the divine plan. One of the few literary works that has enjoyed a fame both immediate and enduring, The Inferno remains powerful after seven centuries. It confronts the most universal values—good and evil, free will and predestination—while remaining intensely personal and ferociously political, for it was born out of the anguish of a man who saw human life blighted by the injustice and corruption of his times. [Mentor]

Review

"It is Mr. Ciardi's great merit to be one of the first American translators to have...reproduced [The Inferno] successfully in English. A text with the clarity and sobriety of a first-rate prose translation which at the same time suggests in powerful and unmistakable ways the run and rhythm of the great original...A spectacular achievement."--Archibald MacLeish

"Fresh and sharp...I think [Ciardi's] version of Dante will be in many respects the best we have seen."--John Crowe Ransom