Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence to a family of minor nobility. He entered into Florentine politics in 1295, but he and his party were forced into exile in a hostile political climate in 1301. Taking asylum in Ravenna late in life, Dante completed his Divine Commedia, considered one of the most important works of Western literature, before his death in 1321. Clive James (1939—2019), author of the best-selling Cultural Amnesia and Poetry Notebook, was an Officer of the Order of Australia and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. His writing appeared in the New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.
"Clive James's translation of The Divine Comedy is a remarkable
achievement: not a scowling marble Dante of sublime set pieces but
a living, breathing poet shifting restlessly through a dizzying
succession of moods, perceptions and passions. Under James's
uncanny touch, seven long centuries drop away, and the great poem
is startlingly fresh and new."
*Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University, author of The Swerve*
"This is the translation that many of us had abandoned all hope of
finding. Clive James's version is the only one that conveys Dante’s
variety, depth, subtlety, vigor, wit, clarity, mystery and awe in
rhymed English stanzas that convey the music of Dante’s triple
rhymes. This book lets Dante’s genius shine through as it never did
before in English verse, and is a reminder that James’s poetry has
always been his finest work."
*Edward Mendelson, Columbia University*
"A vigorous, poetic paraphrase of the Comedy."
*Library Journal*
"Daring… Deciding that Dante’s terza rima is too strained in
English, he uses robust, rollicking quatrains… James’ revitalizing
translation allows this endlessly analyzed, epic, archetypal
‘journey to salvation’ to once again stride, whirl, blaze, and
sing. Anyone heretofore reluctant to pick up The Divine Comedy will
discover that James’ bold, earthy, rhythmic and rhyming,
all-the-way live English translation fulsomely and brilliantly
liberates the profound humanity of Dante’s timeless
masterpiece."
*Booklist*
"Do we really need yet another translation of Dante’s world-famous
journey through the three parts of the Catholic afterlife? We
might, if the translator is both as eminent, and as skillful, as
Clive James… It is a wonder to see the light cast by the
whole."
*Publishers Weekly*
"Seeking to preserve Dante’s ‘infinitely variable rhythmic pulse,’
James makes an inspired metrical choice… The greatest virtue of
James’s translation is his gift for infusing poetry in the least
likely places… James’s austere volume achieves something
remarkable: It lets Dante’s poetry shine in all its
brilliance."
*Joseph Luzzi - New York Times Book Review*
"James gives us something sublime: a new way of reading a classic
work. James' version is not merely a mirrored word, but a
transfigured word. As such, it will no doubt enter the essential
Dante canon, and remain there for years to come."
*Earl Pike - Cleveland Plain Dealer*
"A translation for readers who are culturally engaged, willing to
follow lengthy narratives, and curious about free will and the
soul. A Dante for fans of Mad Men?"
*Camila Domonoske - NPR.org*
"Hugely enjoyable… James allows us a valuable new glimpse into a
supremely imaginative mind at work when thought and faith remained
indivisible—before God, too, was forced from Paradise."
*Tom Bissell - Harper's*
"Perfect for the Don Drapers in your life."
*Megan O’Grady - Vogue.com*
"An extraordinary verse-rendering—the fruit of many years’ work—of
Dante’s The Divine Comedy…he [James] has not only tackled this
Everest of translation, but has scrambled to the summit in
triumph."
*Robert McCrum - The Guardian*
"As with [Seamus] Heaney, the telling choices in his diction are
discreet in themselves, but overwhelming in their impact—.James has
translated the meaning along with the words, so that his Divine
Comedy is, for the twenty-first century English speaker, something
very close to reading Dante in 1317."
*Deirdre Serjeantson - Dublin Review of Books*
"The poem flows magnificently…the speeches are magnificent …. As
for the later books, I know of no English versions that come near
James's…easily the best introduction to Dante for the general
reader."
*Peter Goldsworthy - The Australian*
"James's Divine Comedy… is an impassioned, impressive, sometimes
dazzling piece of work…. James has written a remarkable
contemporary version of Dante—stately, colloquial, full of movement
and fire and light…. [It] is a remarkable tour de force—brave,
sparkling, encyclopedic and with a tremendous forward momentum as
it traverses the vast space of life and death and eternity."
*Peter Craven - Sydney Morning Herald*
"An outstanding achievement…. He restores the sense of drama, the
colours and the music of Dante's vision….. Clive James has now
given us a translation worthy of this and any other time, and a
great piece of literature in its own right."
*Robert Fox - London Evening Standard*
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