The Divine Comedy

Robin Kirkpatrick's superb translation of the most famous work of Italian literature, in a one-volume editionThe Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide; his ascent of Mount Purgatory and encounter with his dead love, Beatrice; and finally, his arrival in Heaven. Examining questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, the poem is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human redemption. This major translation, described by Bernard O'Donoghue as 'likely to be the best modern version of Dante', is published here for the first time in a single volume.

“"The English Dante of choice." Hugh Kenner "Exactly what we have waited for these years, a Dante with clarity, eloquence, terror, and profoundly moving depths." Robert Fagles, Princeton University "A marvel of fidelity to the original, of sobriety, and truly, of inspired poetry." Henri Peyre, Yale University”

The perfect balance of tightness and colloquialism . . . Likely to be the best modern version of Dante -- Bernard O'Donoghue
Kirkpatrick brings a more nuanced sense of the Italian and a more mediated appreciation of the poem's construction than nearly all of his competitors The Times
We gain much from Kirkpatrick's fidelity to syntax and nuance... His introduction...tells you, very readable indeed, pretty much all you need for a heightened appreciation of the work Guardian

Dante Alighieri was 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,including La Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy. He died in Ravenna in 1321.Robin Kirkpatrick is a poet and widely-published Dante scholar. He has taught courses on Dante's Divine Comedy in Hong Kong, Dublin, and Cambridge where is Fellow of Robinson College and Professor of Italian and English Literatures.

'This man is one who, from the deepest void in all the universe, has seen thus far' Informed by a profound belief in the dignity and compassion of humanity, and influenced by the turbulent society of thirteenth-century Italy, Dante's Commedia is one of the most extraordinary visions of sin and redemption in literature. A work of boundless invention and vast intellectual synthesis, it broke new ground with the vigour of its language and storytelling. The three parts of the Commedia chart the spiritual and physical journey of Dante: in the Inferno he descends into a freezing Hell with the Roman Virgil as his guide, in Purgatorio he climbs Mount Purgatorio and is reunited with his lost love Beatrice and, finally, in Paradiso , he ascends to heaven and a sphere beyond space and time. This new edition brings together the three volumes of Robin Kirkpatrick's acclaimed translation of the Commedia , with a new introduction discussing the work in the context of Florentine politics, its experimental techniques and later influence, and the figures of Virgil and Beatrice. This edition also includes a chronology, further reading, maps, diagrams and notes on each canto. Translated and edited with an introduction and notes by Robin Kirkpatrick

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