Divina Commedia - Purgatorio

Meno conosciuto dell'Inferno (che è la parte che viene studiata al liceo) e meno "divertente", mancando molte frecciate e attacchi contro personalità dell'epoca, nel Purgatorio abbiamo anche un cambiamento stilistico evidente, che vira verso un linguaggio più elevato. Le anime nel purgatorio abbracci Leggi tutto

On my second journey through Dante in twelve months, I am reading the original and listening to it (in two complete recordings) while reading and listening to a mixture of translations by scholars and poets. There is no overlap in the categories of scholar and poet in this case. Apart from Ezra Poun Leggi tutto

I came to this as a fairly novice reader of Dante (always in translation) but found it intriguing, engaging, thought provoking, occasionally irritating ( whigs and Tory’s, really?) it has urged me on to read more critical texts to fully appreciate the meaning and purpose of the text.

I'm afraid I read a different edition. The Penguin Classics, Sayers translation. Sayers managed to retain a beautiful rhythm and rhyming scheme in the English version of the poem and the notes and introduction create a framework that help the reader understand aspects of the text.

Good fun but it's not as much fun as his version of the Inferno. Still it's very readable in a very handsome volume. Purgatory is well done but not as inventive as Hell. It's a good version on the whole and the Scots turns of phrase lend colour rather than being intrusive.

Sort of strange edition but you can't deny the poem is sublime.

Superb modern translation/adaptation. Not my favorite, but among them.

Part 2 of Alasdair Gray's translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, with Gray's distinctive artwork and attention to detail in the book design as usual. A handsome book, lovely poetic translation, but much trimmed from the original missing out some of my favourite characters and punishments (if I'm allo Leggi tutto

A fitting end for a genuine great - in Gray's work, it was almost always purgatory, but it was also clear that it didn't have to be. And hey, if I'm not at risk of adopting Dante's system, Gray may yet inspire me to improve my own. Thanks auld yin.