The Divine Comedy vol. III: Paradiso
Dante Alighieri, Robert Durling (trans.)
Oxford Univ., 2011
851 D192ddu v.3
"Durling and Martinez deliver Paradiso in elegant English prose faithful to Dante's Italian. The general introduction and succinct notes to each canto enable an informed reading of a frequently daunting text, while the longer 'Additional Notes,' bibliography, and indices will more than satisfy the most exigent critic. Marvelous, in the richest medieval sense of the term." --Michael Wyatt, author of The Italian Encounter with Tudor England
Robert Durling's spirited new prose translation of the Paradiso completes his masterful rendering of the Divine Comedy. Durling's earlier translations of the Inferno and the Purgatorio garnered high praise, and with this superb version of the Paradiso readers can now traverse the entirety of Dante's epic poem of spiritual ascent with the guidance of one of the greatest living Italian-to-English translators.
Reunited with his beloved Beatrice in the Purgatorio, in the Paradiso the poet-narrator journeys with her through the heavenly spheres and comes to know "the state of blessed souls after death." As with the previous volumes, the original Italian and its English translation appear on facing pages. Readers will be drawn to Durling's precise and vivid prose, which captures Dante's extraordinary range of expression--from the high style of divine revelation to colloquial speech, lyrical interludes, and scornful diatribes against corrupt clergy.
This edition boasts several unique features. Durling's introduction explores the chief interpretive issues surrounding the Paradiso, including the nature of its allegories, the status in the poem of Dante's human body, and his relation to the mystical tradition. The notes at the end of each canto provide detailed commentary on historical, theological, and literary allusions, and unravel the obscurity and difficulties of Dante's ambitious style . An unusual feature is the inclusion of the text, translation, and commentary on one of Dante's chief models, the famous cosmological poem by Boethius that ends the third book of his Consolation of Philosophy. A substantial section of Additional Notes discusses myths, symbols, and themes that figure in all three cantiche of Dante's masterpiece. Finally, the volume includes a set of indexes that is unique in American editions, including Proper Names Discussed in the Notes (with thorough subheadings concerning related themes), Passages Cited in the Notes, and Words Discussed in the Notes, as well as an Index of Proper Names in the text and translation. Like the previous volumes, this final volume includes a rich series of illustrations by Robert Turner.
Frank Wedekind: Four Plays Vol. II
Frank Wedekind; Carl Mueller (trans.)
SK, 2002
832 W389fo
"Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) is one of the undisputed forerunners of the modern stage. An arch radical, he has been described as a master of the shock tactic and the terror of the German bourgeoisie, a lunatic and a criminal who wrote plays of such filth that they are best performed in the gutter.
Others invoke him as God's fool, and yet one thing is certain: He stirs the emotions, pro and con, as deeply as it is possible to imagine. He is also modern in the sense that as a man he finds himself torn between two poles, conventional morality and liberated morality, especially in regard to the subject of sex, which informs much of his dramatic work. Wedekind lived in a repressed age and sought to open the windows to the stuffy hothouse atmosphere of his world by showing its hypocrisy - and for this he was severely criticized by the bourgeoisie of his time." -publisher