"This new Inferno is very quickly going to become a favorite. The translation itself is unusually dynamic and returns to the poem a register of daily speech that increases clarity and energy. It never loses sight of the fact that the Inferno tells an intensely involving story. This volume also offers real help to the novice reader. The synopsis printed at the beginning of each canto; the detailed commentary on each canto, at the end of the book; and, most importantly, a really excellent Introduction—all these give the reader constant and multileveled guides to the journey."
—F. Regina Psaki, The Giustina Family Professor of Italian Language and Literature, University of Oregon
"Tom Simone's translation is simply superb. Of all the translations with which I am familiar, this is the one that is the most faithful to what's there in the Italian: no frills, no poetic sallies, no choosing a word because it brings the line closer to iambic pentameter—just unadulterated Dante with good old Anglo-Saxon words and in highly readable prose."
—Peter Kalkavage, St. John's University
Designed to provide the modern student with access to this important work, Tom Simone's Purgatorio translation offers a text that is as close to Dante's meter and style as possible using modern English. It provides students with a feel for the structure and impact of the original, and it could also provide an easy segue to the original Italian. Also included is an extensive introduction, ample footnotes for references that may not be clear to the reader, and each Canto is preceded by a prose overview of the poetry.
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