Purgatorio (Bantam Classics)

This translation of Purgatorio is a little more difficult than the Pinsky translation of Inferno. The English is older...more thees and thous. I'm not sure if Pinsky has translated Purgatorio, but if so, I'd recommend that one.

The Purgatorio continues Dante's Divine Comedy. Here Dante relates the second portion of his journey, up the mountain and terraces of Purgatory. While it is not as interesting to me, personally, as the Inferno or Paradiso. I nonetheless found it to be indispensible. While it suffers from the same flaws as many intermediary books of a given trilogy it provides an excellent bridge between the two other works.

It was always hard for the majority of readers to feel purgatory just like the inferno. That the own Dante knew, he wrote about this in "Purgatory" because here, differently from "Inferno", Dante desired a crescent climax with connected episodes, the specific episodes are not passionate as inferno`s, that is the purpose: those in purgatory do not feel passions as desirable, "isn't it one more irony of Dante?". Think about it for solving more this enigm of the Divine Comedy.

I will confess that I haven't had a chance to read Merwin's entire translation of Dante's _Purgatorio_, though I have read about a third to this point. I will say, though, that I have read his Forward, and I found it to be one of the more moving testaments to the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual impact that the _Commedia_ has had on readers, poets and non-poets alike, through the ages. There isn't much new information for the Dante scholar--Merwin acknowledges that his notes are largely based on Singleton's--but this is a translation written out of love, not necessarily scholarship. This is Merwin's editon for the lover of both poets and poetry

Review of "Dante's Divine Comedy:Purgatory," by Kathryn LindskoogDante's Divine Comedy:Purgatory, by Kathryn Lindskoog, is a delight to read. This is definitely a reader-friendly retelling of the second part of Dante's Christian classic. The original Divine Comedy was written in terza rima, a closely rhymed form of Italian poetry. This version is written in clear and flowing modern English prose, which at times is suggestive of poetry. The reader is given easy-to-follow footnotes, providing historical background and interpretation that make the book readily understandable and enjoyable. The story can be understood on more than one level. On the literal level, this spiritual adventure describes Dante's journey, led by the Roman poet, Virgil, up the mountain of Purgatory on the way to Paradise. There, on Purgatory's nine ledges, penitent souls move eagerly through repentance and penance, purifying themselves in the joyful knowledge that Paradise awaits them. As an allegory of the Christian experience, Purgatory relates the pilgrimage of the human soul, homesick for heaven, struggling to be free of an unworthy past, and longing for fulfillment in God. Dante envisions Purgatory as a place of unearthly beauty, and here Kathryn Lindskoog's pleasing choice of language makes this book a delight for the reader. Her descriptive passages include such lovely phrases as: "a cliff so steep that nimble legs were useless," ... "a mountain mist...through which you could see only as moles do..." "...gold and fine silver, crimson cloth, ... freshly cracked emeralds - all these colors would look dull next to the grass and flowers in that valley, just as less is always overcome by more." The true glory of Purgatory lies in the sense of eagerness, hope, and anticipation that Dante discovers in the souls he encounters on his journey of spiritual preparation. The book closes with the words, "now I was pure and prepared to rise to the stars." This reader has been caught up in Dante's joyful anticipation of heaven and eagerly awaits the third volume of Dante's Divine Comedy: Paradise, also by Kathryn Lindskoog.