Customer Reviews
Enjoying and Understanding it. - By: Sooty, 01 Oct 2008 
This book is great. As a new reader to Dante's work the notes are clear & easier to read than I expected, leaving me looking forward to reading more & more.
Heavenly Hell - By: Jim Ashton, 08 Aug 2008 Here Musa does the impossible. He writes translated poetry that is perfectly readable, understandable, & as invigorating as Dante's original. It is by a long way the best translation availablein terms of it sheer readability.
Prefacing each Canto with an introductory paragraph, & ending each with copious contextual notes makes this both a good study edition & onein which no shade of meaning is ever lost. However, he also does what many scholars don't: he makes the poetry itself sing & pulsate with life. Musa shows us why this is one of the most important & timeless works of world literature. Dante (like Shakespeare & Cervantes) was writing ripping yarns. Just because they are old & the language may be strange to us now, there is no reason why they should not thrill us as much now as they did when they were written.
If, like me, the original Italian is beyond you, this book is as close as you will get to perfection.
Abandon hope - By: E. A Solinas, 12 Oct 2007 "Midway life's journey I was made aware/that I had strayed into a dark forest..." Those eerie words open the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's "Inferno," the most famous part of the legendary Divina Comedia. But the stuff going on here is anything but divine, as Dante explores the metaphorical & supernatural horrors of the inferno.
The date is Good Friday of the year 1300, & Dante is lostin a creepy dark forest, being assaulted by a trio of beasts who symbolize his own sins. But suddenly he is rescued ("Not man; man I once was") by the legendary poet Virgil, who takes the despondent Dante under his wing -- & down into Hell.
But this isn't a straightforward hell of flames & dancing devils. Instead, it's a multi-tiered carnival of horrors, where different sins are punished with different means. Opportunists are forever stung by insects, the lustful are trappedin a storm, the greedy are forced to battle against each other, & the violent liein a river of boiling blood, are transformed into thorn bushes, & are trapped on a volcanic desert.
If nothing else makes you feel like being good, then "The Inferno" might change your mind. The author loads up his "Inferno" with every kind of disgusting, grotesque punishment that you can imagine -- & it's all wrapped upin an allegorical journey of humankind's redemption, not to mention dissing the politics of Italy & Florence.
Along with Virgil -- author of the "Aeneid" -- Dante peppered his Inferno with Greek myth & symbolism. Like the Greek underworld, different punishments await different sins; what's more, there are also appearances by harpies, centaurs, Cerberus & the god Pluto. But the sinners are mostly Dante's contemporaries, from corrupt popes to soldiers.
And Dante's skill as a writer can't be denied -- the grotesque punishments are enough to make your skin crawl ("Fixedin the slime, groan they, 'We were sullen & wroth...'"), & the grand finale is Satan himself, with legendary traitors Brutus, Cassius & Judas sittingin his mouths. (Yes, I said MOUTHS, not "mouth")
More impressive still is his ability to weave the poetry out of symbolism & allegory, without it ever seeming preachy or annoying. Even pre-hell, we have a lion, a leopard & a wolf, which symbolize different sins, & a dark forest that indicates suicidal thoughts. And the punishments themselves usually reflect the person's flaws, such as false prophets having their heads twisted around so they can only see what's behind them. Wicked sense of humor.
Dante's vivid writing & wildly imaginative "inferno" makes this the most fascinating, compelling volume of the Divine Comedy. Never fun, but always spellbinding & complicated.
Superb! Easy to understand. - By: SJSmith, 18 Apr 2007 I only wanted to read Part One: Inferno as I had seen to discussed on a recent crime programme. I went on to do a little research & then came across this easy translation.
It was fabulous to read. He has created an accessible text that also has detailed notes after every canto; plus a wonderful introduction. As each canto starts there is a short paragraph explaining what is happening which can help you.
I enjoyed reading this & wish I hadn't left it so long. You don't need to be smart or a scholar to enjoy this masterpiece!
Fantastic - By: , 14 May 2003 This book was fantastic.
Musa's style has made Dante's work accessible to everyone, the blank verse translation is exceptionally easy to read & the accompanying notes means that even non-literature scholars, like me, don't miss a trick. I would like to congratulate him, personally, for a top job. I don't think I would have enjoyed it half as much by a different translator.
