Dante is an exiled, aggressive, self-righteous, salvationbent intellectual, humbled only to rise assured and ardent, zealously prophetic, politically messianic, indignant,nervous, muscular, theatrical, energetic he is at once our brother and our engenderer.

We may ponder the divide between the modem and the medieval or profess our distance from Dante, but that profession only masks proximities more intimate than those that link us to antiquity. Even our recovery of the judgmental, ethical aspect of Dante, our anathemas against any Romantic falling prey to (heaven forbid) over-sympathy with Francesca,Farinata, or Ulysses, carries sanctimonious overtones only too easily available to us. ……

  In this superb translation of the lnferno, Allen Mandelbaum brings to life for contemporary readers the first and most famous part of Dante’s Divine Comedy: the poet’s classic journey through the underworld. Here is Dante at his ribald, shocking,and demonic best as he describes in unforgettably vivid detail his harrowing descent to the very bottom of Hell. Filled with politics and philosophy, humor and horror, the Inferno is an epic poem at once personal and universal that provides a darkly illuminating view into our present world no less than Dante’s own. For as we’re led to the last circle of the Inferno we recognizethe very worst in human nature...and the ever-abiding  potential for redemption. Complete with an introduction and commentary, this definitive dual-language edition is unsurpassed for its clarity, beauty, and faithfulness to the original.

Introduction

INFERNO

Dante in His Age

Dante as Ancient and Modern

Notes