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The Inferno of Dante

A New Verse Translation by Robert Pinsky

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The Inferno of Dante

By: Dante Alighieri, Robert Pinsky - translator
Narrated by: Seamus Heaney, Frank Bidart, Louise Glück
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About this listen

 Robert Pinsky's new verse translation of the Inferno makes it clear to the contemporary listener, as no other in English has done, why Dante is universally considered a poet of great power, intensity, and strength. This critically acclaimed translation was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry and the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award given by the Academy of American Poets. Well versed, rapid, and various in style, the Inferno is narrated by Pinsky and three other leading poets: Seamus Heaney, Frank Bidart, and Louise Glück.

Canto XXI (The Lawyers) (detail), 1992. Michael Mazur, 1935-2009. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature Death, Grief & Loss Epic European Poetry Themes & Styles World Literature Classics
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Multiple readers break up the narrative and make for a distracting listen. The readers consistent mispronunciation of Italian names, places and words is off putting. Sadly I cannot recommend, though this is a fine translation

Lamentable performance of a fine translation

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A great translation by Pinksky, but he is a distracting narrator. Worse still is Louise Gluck. I don't know her poetry, but she reads in a voice so affectless that it sometimes sounds almost like Stephen Hawking's computer. Seamus Heaney is wonderful though - a pity he couldn't have recorded the whole thing.

A very mixed bag

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The best translation of Inferno. Somehow too it works having the 4 different poets read. Yes Louise Gluck has an affectless delivery - but its done on purpose to give a sense of the doomful mood of hell. Heaney and Pinsky wonderful - and translation sings.

Best translation

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Great translation. Some brilliant readings but bit mixed Swamy’s Heaney the star turn great that he read the last part

Pinsky translation of Dante’s inferno

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Lousie Glück made me want to pass out with boredom. Each of the other narrators had an ok delivery, relatively interesting and such, but Glück read in the most monotone, dreary and sole-destroying way that every part she read was ruined. I struggled very hard to actually listen to what was being said – easy to hear her, just so difficult to concentrate when there is no emphasis or enthusiasm behind her words.

The others’ parts did the book justice and kept me listening. Unfortunately, however, all of the parts sounded like they were recorded in a call center. The quality of the sound was just awful – a subtle low murmuring in the background kept grabbing my attention. Unacceptable and just seems amateurish.

I assumed the different narrators would be reading different characters but instead the readers took it in turns to deliver different chapters. This kind of struck me as odd.

Lastly, they only did the first book – so any continuation of the story will need to be switched to different readers, which feels a bit inconsistent.

Much better off to get the full “Divine Comedy” to begin with, I wish I had and will be returning to do just that.

Not the best version of this book.

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