[Andrew Frisardi]

My essay-review of two new translations of Dante's Purgatorio, with reflections on the challenges of translating Dante and an overview of Divine Comedy translations into English, is up at Plough online.

The title that the editors gave the piece is a little misleading. I originally just gave it the title in this thread.

My overview of translations isn't exhaustive of course, but I touch on quite a few. Interesting for me in doing the piece was that my opinion of some Dante translations changed--including some of what I said in this GT thread from July.

[F.F. Teague]

Congratulations, Andrew

This is rather fascinating; I've always been interested in translation. I have some modest experience in the field.

Editors, tsk.

I like 'felicitous error' (of course).

Best wishes,
Fliss

[Allen Tice]

Andrew, what’s do you think of John Ciardi’s version?

[Susan McLean]

I enjoyed your essay, Andrew. It was both knowledgeable and readable.

Susan

[Roger Slater]

I enjoyed it as well.

Do you have a favorite Dante translation (Inferno and Purgatorio)? Someone asked me recently which translation to read and I had no idea what to suggest.

[Andrew Frisardi]

Fliss, Allen, Susan, and Roger: thank you.

Allen, in an earlier draft of this I did have a couple of sentences on the Ciardi translation, but I cut them for space. In general I think the Ciardi is OK but not very exciting or energetic. What I find interesting is his use of the “imperfect” terza rima—not rhyming the middle line of each tercet, but rhyming the first with the third—to keep some sense of the rhyme pattern without cramping the language too much.

Roger, as I say in the essay I now take C. H. Sisson’s translation of the whole Divine Comedy for the poetry and Hollander’s for the accuracy, clarity, and notes. For just Inferno and Purgatorio, the Pinsky for the former and the Merwin for the latter are very good.

[John Riley]

Andrew, I am in awe of the depth of your knowledge and how you are able to present it in a manner that even a peasant such as myself can grasp. I will read this review/essay again because I will need to take notes, which is what I do when I encounter a review/essay that I know is full of learning and experience I need to use and remember.

I'm writing this comment early, in terms of me grasping all you say in the review, to ask a question: Are you working on your own translation of Dante? If not, why not? I am certain it will be a translation I will read. So please tell me you are working on a translation.

Best

[Andrew Frisardi]

Thanks, John. I'm happy the piece is useful to you. I have translated a lot of Dante, but only short sections of the Divine Comedy. I translated his two pre-Comedy books in the vernacular, the Vita Nova and the Convivio. The former is not a bad one to read for getting to know Dante, though I think it is better to read and get into the Comedy first. The Convivio is Dante in philosophical mode, though it is also very poetic and has three long poems in it. But like I say in the review, I don't think there is a need for new Comedy translations at this point, since there are so many are quite a few are decent or very good. But I hope to translate parts of the Comedy just for the pleasure of it.