henry cary

[Richard Ryan]

Have not really read the Cary, tho' its one of the standard translations.
>From what I've seen, it looks a little musty.  Longfellow's now
mostly-forgotten version is an excellent realization of the poem in 19th
Century romantic verse.

Among the moderns, Mark Musa's translation of the Commedia with notes is
outstanding for its clarity and for the intelligent and helpful supplemental
material; it's a good student's edition without being noteworthy as a
literary artifact, and as such is a descendant of Singleton's prose trot.
Allen Mandelbaum's is my favorite of recent translations: his free verse is
terrifically powerful and exciting, plus the paperback editions include
wonderful graphics by Barry Moser.  I read all three canticles in the
Mandelbaum trans. straight through a number of years ago; it was one of the
great literary experiences of my life!

Many people think highly of America poet John Ciardi's efforts, which keeps
to the terza rima scheme; what I've read of Ciardi is frustrating to me --
it's not strictly faithful to Dante, but neither does he create his own
independent poetic voice, and consequently it feels mannered. Maybe I should
give it another chance.  Two other American poets have recently translated
individual canticles: Robert Pinsky's Inferno was much praised and too my
mind over-blown and over-rated.  W.S. Merwin's Purgatorio is first-rate;
crisp and lyrical and very much Merwin's.

If you're seriously thinking about reading Dante, I would start with Musa or
Mandelbaum.  Cary will disappoint you, methinks.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org]On
> Behalf Of Betsy -
> Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2003 1:49 PM
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Subject: henry cary
>
>
>
>
> Thanks for all the information about schiller.
>
> New question:  I received the Divine Comedy as translated by Henry Cary a
> little while ago, and I was wondering if this is considered a good
> translation or not.  And if not, who is a good translator?
>
> Thanks
>
> -Betsy
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
> http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
>
>