The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno [Paperback]

An acclaimed translation of Dante Alighieri'sThe Divine Comedy Volume 1: Infernothat retains all the style, power and meaning of the original

A Penguin Classic

This vigorous translation of Inferno preserves Dante's simple, natural style, and captures the swift movement of the original Italian verse. Mark Musa's blank verse rendition of the poet's journey through the circles of hell recreates for the modern reader the rich meanings that Dante's poem had for his contemporaries. Musa's introduction and commentaries on each of the cantos brilliantly illuminate the text. 

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Musa operates on the principle that a translator's first duty is to render the original text as exactly as possible without compromising the literary quality of the work.... [This is] the best English-language version of theInfernocurrently available. —Library JournalDante Alighieriwas born in Florence in 1265 and belonged to a noble but impoverished family. His life was divided by political duties and poetry, the most of famous of which was inspired by his meeting with Bice Portinari, whom he called Beatrice,includingLa Vita NuovaandThe Divine Comedy. He died in Ravenna in 1321.

Mark Musais Distinguished Professor of French and Italian at the Center for Italian Studies, Indiana University.

INTRODUCTION

If one test of a work's greatness is that it can speak to readers in any historical moment yet stillls)