 
THE DIVINE COMEDY
(Page 4)
Now that you've reached the end of this web
site dealing with translations of The Divine
Comedy, you may be surprised to learn
that Dante, the author of The Divine Comedy, did not believe it was possible
--
or desirable -- to translate from one language to another. In one of his
writings, he said:
Nothing which is harmonized by the bond of the Muses can be changed
from its own to another language without having all its sweetness
destroyed. (qtd. in Wechsler 51-52)
Would Dante still believe this if he were alive today? There's no way of
knowing, of course, but the many thousands of readers who have come to know and
love his poem through its many translations would certainly disagree. I hope you
are among them. And by comparing translations of The Divine Comedy, I hope
you have also gained some appreciation for the art of translation and for what
can be learned from reading multiple translations of the same work.
If you're interested in visiting other web sites related to Dante's Divine
Comedy,
here are two useful starting-points:
The
Princeton Dante Project: comprehensive resources including links to
Divine Comedy sites throughout the world. Registration is
required.
<http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html>
The Atlantic Online: Poetry Pages: If you have the required audio equipment on your computer,
you can hear Robert Pinsky reading selections from the Italian text of the Inferno
and his own translation.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/aandc/dante/rplist.htm>
Top
of Page
comments to: vpoulakis@nvcc.edu
11/11/05
|
