I can't find a page on the wiki or anything, my apologies if it exists and I did not look hard enough...

I can't find a page on the wiki or anything, my apologies if it exists and I did not look hard enough, but what is the best translation of the Divine Comedy? Could anyone post the image with the list of different translations in different forms? Should I read the Aeneid before reading it because it has Virgil in it or something?

hollander

thank you

John Ciacco is the best for one volume.

but promise that you'll read at least the 4th canto from inferno in italian

i don't know what that means this would be my first book i've read to completion in years

Musa for beginners (has just enough notes to skim reading), Hollander for people who are to spend months dedicated to studying TDC.

I mean John Ciardi. I like the Hollanders but I can't trust the guy's wife.

Ciardi is a shit modern poet and a forced meme. OWC editions are mediocre, and Ciardi's translation for them is not an exception.

Go with Musa or Hollander, depending on which mode of study you intend on, based on .

HEY DANTEANON FINISH YOUR FUCKING CHART

zz I will at some point

? OWC doesn't use ciardi. it's sisson.

Whoops, mixed up my dark red covers.

Ciardi Dante is published by New American Library. Still mediocre, unless one wants a failed approximation of terza rima, for whatever reason. Ciardi's translation will fade in time, as did all the versions of Homer that tried (and failed) to distribute English across hexameter.

really no reason for going with Singleton for a first read.

I find Mandelbaum to be best.

Did you even fucking read it? It says it's distinguished by its notes, not for the translation. It's primarily recommended for study.

Mandelbaum is garbage. There's no reason for his translation to exist with Hollander and Singleton on shelves.

how many people on Veeky Forums have actually read multiple translations of dante and did serious comparisons? you guys seem to have super strong opinions on this topic...

Likely between 0-15.

I have, since Divine Comedy is my favorite work of literature. So I make up at least one of those 15.

I read Hollander and it was superb. No complaints.

>Mandelbaum is garbage
yeah na gonna have to heartily disagree there. one of the most readable translators. takes liberties, but liberties must be taken.

I have. Recently I've been having a ton of fun with good faithful prose versions, especially Durling/Martinez and also Sinclair. Perhaps unsurprisingly, by eschewing English poetic meters these prose translators can be much more faithful and at the same time poetic than the metered translators. I'll probably return to meter one day but, for now, it's prose for me.

Forgot to mention, I originally got into these two translations because the notes were so damn insightful, so much more so than the average historical fact dump notes. I was like "prose Dante? Fuck that I'll just read the notes" but then the prose poetry was also fucking awesome

I've always liked Longfellow's the best, though I know I'm in the minority

this

I don't even like Ciardi, but there's no point for Mandelbaum's translation to exist when Ciardi and Hollander have translations out.