Purgatorio

Reviews / Votes

"Fresh, lively, and reliable, Stanley Lombardo's Purgatorio easily earns its place in the great tradition of English-language renderings of Dante. Excellent introductory material and footnotes help to make this a version that will appeal to scholars, students, and general readers alike."
-Steven Botterill, Associate Professor of Italian Studies, University of California, Berkeley "To read Dante is to be triply overwhelmed: by his vast classical and biblical erudition, by the ingenuity and innovation of his narrative conception, by the constant allure of his diction. The cumulative effect is almost too much to take. This is where Stanley Lombardo comes in. As Virgil guided Dante himself, so Lombardo's lucent translations guide the English-language reader through the labyrinthine magnificence of the Divine Comedy. Ma qui la morta poesi resurga, 'here let poetry rise from the dead,' prays the narrator Dante: a wish richly fulfilled in Lombardo's renderings, whose unprepossessing dignity and clarity give an authentic sense of the enduring beauty of the Tuscan original. This new translation of the Purgatorio continues the project that was so splendidly launched by Lombardo's Inferno. As before, the translation itself is presented with the original text in facing pages, and is accompanied by clear-headed introductory material and helpful notes. And Hackett once again delights the eye with elegant layout and exquisite typeface. All in all, this central panel of Dante's immortal triptych is superlatively presented."
-John T. Kirby, Professor of Classics, University of Miami "With the arrival of Lombardo's distinguished translation of the Purgatorio, the second installment of Dante's grand tour of the afterlife becomes a viable option in literature surveys-and in more specialized undergraduate courses as well. Dante is no longer the Inferno alone when it is a question of reaching typical undergraduate audiences. Lombardo's flowing verse is supple and highly readable, and Ruth Chester's explanatory notes are abundant, lucid, and very useful. And not the least of the attractions of Lombardo's Purgatorio is the presence of the Italian text on facing pages, a valuable tool for readers whose Italian is adequate or at least at the "working" level."
-Nathaniel Wallace, South Carolina State University "A musical Purgatorio that asks to be read aloud in the classroom, where it will undoubtedly enchant. The Introduction, by Claire Honess and Matthew Treherne, provides an insightful overview to the myriad issues of Purgatorio that is well aimed at a general reader. The notes by Ruth Chester are both informative and measured in their stance. Lombardo straddles a middle ground, in this case of technical accuracy and colloquial verve, that lends an eminently readable air to his work. With an easy diction and a limpid style, he opens the text up to a new generation of readers and asks all of us, scholars and students alike, to bring this text alive with our voices."
-Akash Kumar, in Speculum "Purgatorio is the central volume in Stanley Lombardo's complete facing-page verse translation of the Comedy, with advice, introductory matter and detailed notes provided by eminent Dantists, following the pattern set in his Inferno volume (2009), and now completed in his Paradiso (2017). Lombardo, a classical scholar known for his versions of Homer and Virgil, not only provides a solid explanatory text, but offers a poetic experience based on a creative approach which he sets out in an interesting Translator's Preface, foregrounding elements such as sound, performability, communication. . . . The voice in Lombardo's Purgatorio strikes a steady, moderate note, unpretentious in its vocabulary choice, unassuming in its elegant deviations. . . . Lombardo provides a valuable addition to the range of English Dantes. . . . The book's apparatus is first-rate. An elegant and substantial introduction outlines the diverse doctrinal foundation of Purgatory, showing how Dante found the freedom to shape his own bespoke mountain. The life-affirming morality of the canticle is expounded, with its subtle account of human motivation based on inclinations rather than outcomes. Other topics include the pressures of time, prayer and penitance, the links between local chaos and world disorder, the central importance of poetry, and the continuity of hope that binds purgatory to paradise. Ruth Chester's contribution is discreet, informative, and lively. Often linking scenes and episodes to other moments in the Commedia, her notes help readers to grasp the poem as a whole. Points of beauty and emotion are quietly highlighted; we are prompted, rather than pushed, to appreciate what's happening."
-Cormac O Cuilleanain, Trinity College Dublin, in Italian Studies