Dante's Divine Comedy Set Reissue Edition

I have enjoyed reading Dante’s comedy in various translations for years now.There’s about in here and it is finely written.Notes are more in depth in other translations, but this is good.I have a shelf full of various translations and I love them all.

Man, this is an excellent prose translation (much better in than many verse translations) with excellent notes and short essays after each Canto, but I haven’t laughed even once while reading this. I mean, I’m not expecting Vergil to be as funny as Robin Williams or Eddie Murphy, but c’mon, not even a mildly suggestive limerick in the whole ‘poem.’ I’m hoping that Beatrice will at least throw a pie in Cereberus’s faces if there’s ever a movie.

I’m reading these three books as part of an online program called “100 Days of Dante.” This program is excellent as it involves numerous scholars who provide a brief lecture on each Canto. Readers are asked to read three Cantos a week.I have been doing this as well as reading some supplementary guides to The Divine Comedy.There are many translations of The Divine Comedy available. Many are poetic translations. The one I’m using is a prose translation by John Sinclair. One of the reasons I chose this text is due to its bilingual format — Italian on the left page, English on the right. Another reason is that the translator has provided three or four pages of notes for each Canto. I’ve found these useful. Admittedly, by reading a prose translation I’m missing some of the great beauty of Dante’s poetic language, but I hope to make up for this by reading a poetic translation after I finish this prose one. While I have enjoyed this translation by Sinclair, I suspect there are newer and more robust translations available.

Type on notes is small but the quality of this translation and the notes is matchless. Read all three volumes and you will be experiencing one of the greatest literary works ever written.

I've read several Dante's Divine Comedy interpretations and am so confused as to which one is accurate. This one leaves a lot to be desired. And, it costs way too much.

The best part about these books is the commentary. The reason I gave it 4 stars is the print quality is spotty in places. Also I wish they had included a few illustrations. Overall I am very satisfied with them.

It's a good trilogy, and definitely very thought provoking. Unfortunately, you pretty much learn to expect to see Dante's enemies in Hell and his friends in Heaven, which makes it rather predictable! But much better than the trash that's written today, and definitely more intelligent a read than what you find lying around today.

If you are a bit more experienced or adventurous in your reading of The Divine Comedy, then you could check out the three-volume paperback set from Oxford University Press. Like any translation, there are pros and cons to this edition. Even though, the poem is meant to be read as one work, the fact that they are in three books makes it a bit more portable if you want to read one at a time. The biggest plus to these books though is that they are a parallel translation. That means you get the original Italian on one side (if you are smart enough to know the Italian, which again, I know someone who is), and John D. Sinclair's translation on the other. The translation loses the beauty of the poetic verse in doing a translation of this type, but it adds a scholarly level to it, if that's your thing. There is also commentary included in these volumes, which while helpful can be leading. Works need to be read on their own before you start listening to what other people have to say about them. Overall, this is a solid translation and one that I would recommend if you are experienced in Dante and if you have an interest in reading what others have to say about Dante.