The Inferno (Signet Classics)

For years, we have been required to read Dante's "Inferno" in the classroom, either as high schoolers or undergrads in a survey class on Western literature. Even at that age, with so many distractions and with such a limited imagination, it is impossible to miss Dante's extraordinary literary talent. Acting as both author and narrator, Dante shares with us his vision of the afterlife, as he descends its depths and witnesses the varying degrees of torment that await the incontinent, the violent and the fraudulent. His sinners and the lairs they inhabit are thought-provoking and rich with a symbolism and imagery unrivaled by any other poet until that time. There are unforgettable stories of love, vengeance, betrayal, abuse-of-power, guilt and just about everything one can imagine in an underworld which teems with characters from mythology, history and the Bible. From the tempestuous love affair of Paolo and Francesca in the second circle to the chilling prophecy of Farinata in the sixth to the horrifying story of Count Ugliono in the ninth, the Underworld is vast and complex, and the punishment each sinner endures serves as both physical and mental penance for the wrongs they committed on earth; as they sinned, so do they now suffer and are forever reminded of what brought them there. Dante begins his journey on Good Friday 1300, when he is at the cross-roads of his life and just emerged from a dark wood "where the straight way was lost." He encounters three beasts: a she-wolf, a lion and a leopard, each representing the different types of sins of the Inferno. His guide is the poet Virgil, who represents reason in its purest form and who has been prompted to help Dante see the wages of sin by his departed Beatrice, who represents love and Christian charity in its purest form. Virgil himself occupies a circle of Hell, a circle occupied only by the most enlightened pagans the world has ever seen. Nevertheless, his seniority over the other wraiths of hell, as well his calmness in the face of all adversity, helps keeps Dante's fear in check, as they make their way through the gut-wrenching circles of hell. Virgil is there to bring order to the chaos, to remind Dante that these sinners have earned their judgment and to yell at any brazen demons, centaurs, giants or otherwise who block their path, ordained by the Divine. Dante is there to learn so that he may be spared the awful fate of the souls he meets. There is a Clifton Fadiman quote that "when you re-read a classic, you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in yourself than there was before." For this reason, I urge anyone who was compelled to read this timeless poem in school to revisit it as an adult. See how much more you appreciate Dante's terza rima, his epic similes, his imagery and his insight into the depths of human fallibility, now that you don't have to study for a quiz on it. And this particular translation, so carefully rendered by John Ciardi, reads so nicely, and his commentary is so exhaustive that you could not get lost if you wanted to. On the other hand, the ambitious reader who likes to unravel the symbolism on his/her own should be warned that this edition contains many spoilers if too much of the commentary is read. In any case, Dante's work is a triumph of the Medieval world, a classic that will be read and re-read until the end of time!

Rating: I gave this five stars only because it is the best translation of perhaps the finest literary achievement outside of the Bible. However, I MUST express my concerns as below: The original: TEN stars out of Five for it is unparalleled. The Translation by John Ciardi: FIVE stars out of FIVE for it is in itself a work of art! The OCR conversion: MINUS TEN out of FIVE; for numerous, glaring, disconcerting and inexcusable OCR errors!! I have been a dedicated fan of John Ciardi's inspired translation of Dante's Commedia for many years. The original work; The Commedia, by Dante is perhaps the closest thing to perfection outside of the Bible (which, I believe firmly was God-Authored, so, it would not be fair to compare any Man's work to that too closely). The appellation of 'Divine' to Dante's extraordinary allegory is a statement to its almost perfect quality. Now, the problem for me is that it is written in Italian. I speak English. So, I cannot read this work in its original form. The next best thing is to read a translation into English. Again, no matter the quality of the original, the translation can provide an experience near to that which the author intended, or it can mar the work beyond recognition. For this work, Dante's Commedia; the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, there exist several translations into English. For my dollar, John Ciardi's is the best. Others may disagree on this count, but there is no arguing that his translation is masterful. The added bonus is his short prose summaries of each canto (chapter) and his extensive footnotes for illumination of the text. Added together, John Ciardi and Dante Alighieri present, in this translation, a reading experience of scintillating excellence. Each and every reading from the first to the thousandth is wonderful, rich and even fresh. Now along comes the Kindle. Being an extreme bibliophile, I never thought I would like the ebook experience. Suffice it to say that I was quite wrong on that count. However, this is not a review of the Kindle or any e-reader. So, naturally, loving this translation and work like I do, I purchased the Kindle version without blinking. To my utter dismay, the text is sorely corrupted by errors. The OCR output does not seem to have been reviewed, edited or otherwise corrected at all. Having read this work as many times as I have, each canto, each stanza, each verse, and every word are precious and like old friends. (I re-read it for the same reasons one keeps returning to their favorite ice cream flavor, or their favorite song). But, in this case, the amount of error contained in this electronic copy is jarring and unpleasant and all too frequently encountered. So, if the nice folks at Penguin publishing should happen to read this review; I can only say: You have a gem on your hands, so why smear it with mud? Please, Please, correct the text errors, which are legion and most disconcerting, and restore this literary diamond to its original and deserved luster and brilliance and re-publish the work as it should have been done from the start.

This Ciardi translation is very readable and maintains the meter and rhyme scheme of the original triplet form. The introductions to each Canto are very helpful and the notes at the end of each canto are excellent. For the non-scholar who still wants to go a little deeper than the poetry at it's face value, this is a rewarding read.

A terrific translation. Before each canto there is a summary of the events and at the end of each canto there are notes about certain words, themes, people, choices and history to better assist people in understanding the brilliance of the divine comedy. This is definitly the best copy of The Inferno that I have found so far.

Signet edition: Great translation. Good printing and binding that is easy to keep open and read through. Pages don't bleed to the other side. Quite a pleasure to go through. Happy with this edition.

easy to read translation without losing poetry, great intro to each chapter, and excellent notes, recommend one hundred per cent

Great