Which translation of The Divine Comedy?

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Anonymous
Which translation of The Divine Comedy? 2016-05-04 19:31:03 Post No. 7999120
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Which translation of The Divine Comedy? Anonymous 2016-05-04 19:31:03 Post No. 7999120 [Report]

Hi /lit/. I'm very interested in reading The Divine Comedy and as it stands a Kindle version is my only hope of reading this for now. Which translation is better? I tried John Ciardi's and the Hollanders', and while the latter has faaar more extensive footnotes (apparently, compared to a mere synopsis of a cantos at the beginning) it lacks the poetic punch Ciardi's translation has (which seemingly lacks many contextual clues).

Should I buy one translation over the other, or should I get both and use the Hollander translation as a tome of footnotes?

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 19:34:59 Post No.7999136
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 19:34:59 Post No.7999136 [Report]

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2 MB, 2000x7594

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 19:49:41 Post No.7999185
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 19:49:41 Post No.7999185 [Report]

>>7999136
Thank you, anon. That chart helps a lot.

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:15:07 Post No.7999291
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:15:07 Post No.7999291 [Report]

Do you really want extensive footnotes for your first time reading it? You don't want to be mired in commentary, you want enough information to be oriented. Ciardi is a good choice, so is Mandelbaum.

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:18:08 Post No.7999309
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:18:08 Post No.7999309 [Report]

read Ciardi and Musa, both were good

Musa had great notes, but it's a lot of money to buy the comedy in 3 volumes not 1

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:20:07 Post No.7999317
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:20:07 Post No.7999317 [Report]

>>7999291
I want the context given to certain people and references.

I know jack shit about Italians

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:21:10 Post No.7999320
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:21:10 Post No.7999320 [Report]

>>7999317
well mark musa will have you there

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:22:00 Post No.7999324
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:22:00 Post No.7999324 [Report]

>>7999317
I'm worried I'd feel rather lost if I read it 'blindly', so to speak. Seeing nothing for footnotes on the Ciardi translation worried me.

>>7999309
Yeah, for now I'm looking for an affordable foray since this will be my first poetry book

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:27:47 Post No.7999337
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:27:47 Post No.7999337 [Report]

>>7999324
The Ciardi translation has notes.

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:33:20 Post No.7999350
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:33:20 Post No.7999350 [Report]

>>7999337

Yeah, it seems I picked a particularly short sample for Ciardi's translation. Found another edition just now, and it's great.

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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:53:32 Post No.7999418
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Anonymous 2016-05-04 20:53:32 Post No.7999418 [Report]

Mark Musa has pretty fantastic footnotes, I'd say the best