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vreeland: Bruno Binggeli verbindet Dantes Grosses Werk mit der modernen Astrophysik und macht sich in und mit der Lektüre der Göttlichen Komödie und den darin enthaltenen mittelalterlichen Jenseitsvorstellungen auf die Suche nach dem "Big Bang" - dem Urknall. Paradies und Superraum, Gnadenwahl und Quantenphysik, Hölle und Schwarze Löcher: Mittelalter und Moderne passen sehr viel besser zusammen als man glaubt. Binggeli ist Physiker und Galaxienforscher an der Universität Basel; die wissenschaftliche Akribie, mit der er die Göttliche Komödie mit aktuellen Forschungsergebnissen in Relation bringt, schafft für beide Seiten reizvolle neue Perspektiven und Ansätze des Verstehens.… (more)
This recent English poetry translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy by Clive James incorporates into the text a lot of the political context that usually gets relegated to footnotes. I listened to an excellent audiobook performance by Edoardo Ballerini.
I love the translation, I love the performance, but I found myself getting lost in the flow of beautiful words and not tracking much actual story -- with a few notable exceptions that made me giggle and reflect on how saucy Dante must have been politically. I'm going to leave this book unfinished because it isn't calling to me right now, but I think it's likely I'll revisit it in the future. ( )
. . Dante's Geocentric Universe Introduction The Hereford 'Mappa Mundi' c.1290 Political panorama of thirteenth and early fourteenth century in terms of Guelf and Ghibeline alignments Plan of the Divine Comedy Acknowledgements On Translating Dante A Map of Dante's Italy c.1300 Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso Commentary and Notes Selected Bibliography ( )
A canto a day was no problem until Paradiso, which was Heavy Lifting. 100 days stretched to 271. The Longfellow and Mandelbaum translations, useful at points in Inferno and Purgatorio, gave no added help. See https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/
The introductory notes were fascinating. They gave a lucid explanation of the difficulty of translation and got me excited about a book with a translation that has the thrill of the original Italian, and keeps the action going throughout the book.
However, in the body of the translation, there are no paragraph divisions. I found it very difficult to keep track of who is speaking. That was frustrating, and made the reading a slog as I tried to understand it. I only made it through the first canto.
For a sanity check, I compared with some translations available online. All of them have paragraph breaks. (Courtney Langdon, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles Elliot Norton, A. S. Kline, H. F. Cary)
The lack of paragraph breaks makes it nearly unreadable. I created a new exclusive shelf for this book: never-finished.
The edition that I read was an "Advance Reading Copy." Perhaps the final published edition will be better. ( )
The classic story of a man who endures the torment of Hell and Purgatory in his quest to reach Paradise.
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Belonging in the immortal company of the great works of literature, Dante Alighieri's poetic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, is a moving human drama, an unforgettable visionary journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and on to the glorious realm of Paradise; the sphere of universal harmony and eternal salvation.
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(4.11)
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W.W. Norton
Ediciones Encuentro
7
2
Best Translation of The Divine Comedy?
Wikipedia in English (15)
I love the translation, I love the performance, but I found myself getting lost in the flow of beautiful words and not tracking much actual story -- with a few notable exceptions that made me giggle and reflect on how saucy Dante must have been politically. I'm going to leave this book unfinished because it isn't calling to me right now, but I think it's likely I'll revisit it in the future. (