The Divine Comedy, Volume 1, Hell [the Inferno] |
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Translator:
| Norton, Charles |
Author:
| Dante Alighieri, |
ISBN: | 979-8-5684-5506-6 |
Publication Date: | Nov 2020 |
Publisher: | Independently Published
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Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | USD $9.95 |
Book Description:
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So many versions of the Divine Comedy exist in Eng-lish that a new one might well seem needless. But most of these translations are in verse, and the intellectual temper of our time is impatient of a transmutation in which sub-stance is sacrificed for form's sake, and the new form is it-self different from the original. The conditions of verse in different languages vary so widely as to make any versi-fied translation of a poem but an imperfect reproduction of the archetype. It is like...
More DescriptionSo many versions of the Divine Comedy exist in Eng-lish that a new one might well seem needless. But most of these translations are in verse, and the intellectual temper of our time is impatient of a transmutation in which sub-stance is sacrificed for form's sake, and the new form is it-self different from the original. The conditions of verse in different languages vary so widely as to make any versi-fied translation of a poem but an imperfect reproduction of the archetype. It is like an imperfect mirror that ren-ders but a partial likeness, in which essential features are blurred or distorted. Dante himself, the first modern crit-ic, declared that "nothing harmonized by a musical bond can be transmuted from its own speech without losing all its sweetness and harmony," and every fresh attempt at translation affords a new proof of the truth of his asser-tion. Each language exhibits its own special genius in its poetic forms. Even when they are closely similar in rhythmical method their poetic effect is essentially differ-ent, their individuality is distinct. The hexameter of the Il-iad is not the hexameter of the Aeneid. And if this be the case in respect to related forms, it is even more obvious in respect to forms peculiar to one language, like the terza rima of the Italian, for which it is impossible to find a sat-isfactory equivalent in another tongue.