The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Volume 3: Paradiso Reprint Edition

Fitting Dante into English is in the end entirely impossible but the effort is necessary for each generation and should that effort lead to any increased understanding of what’s happening in the Italian that effort has not been wasted. This effort has not been wasted.

There are a couple different versions of these Durling/Martinez editions of the Divine Comedy floating around. I ordered all three at the same time and each had different margin size, text size, and spine length, so just be aware that the physical qualities of the books may be different.That said, this is an excellent literal translation of the Paradiso. With the very extensive endnotes and additional essays anybody who has a basic knowledge of medieval and christian history will have a fairly easy time getting into the meat of Dante's complex poem.

This is a very good translation with extensive notes. I would suggest, however, that you start with Volume 1 of the Divine Comedy to have a better understanding of what Dante is trying to do.

An excellent edition with copious notes. English and Italian lines are side by side so that it is easy to go from one to the other. Unlike the previous 2 volumes which had traditional binding and paper cover, this volume had a printed board binding with no cover so it doesn't really match the previous 2. If you are buying all 3 you might be just as well off not buying the hardbacks.

Dante is celebrated as the modern scholar and poet of his time in European letters. Durling has done his part to make the thinking artist of that age available to our own modernist artists. The continuity of the principles of modernity ; analysis and synthesis as proposed in manifestos is worked in to the translation, notes and additional notes in a entertaining trilogy I recommend to any reader of English. Take your time and be rewarded. Thanks to Amazon for finding good copies and mailing them in such good wrapping.

The book was received just as it is described

This is the best and most readable translation of the Divine Comedy I've consulted, and I've read quite a few. Durling & Martinez's notes and analysis is good, but the true pleasure is the skill of the translation. If you want to read the Divine Comedy in English, you owe it to yourself to get this editions. Others just don't live up.

My personal favorite of all the translations I've read, including the excellent Singleton, Hollander, Musa and Mandelbaum versions, because of graceful accuracy and helpfulness in following along on the facing page with my very limited Italian.