Inferno: The Longfellow Translation

A literary treasure
rediscovered.In 1867, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow completed the
first American translation of Inferno and thus introduced Dante’s
literary genius to the New World. In the Inferno, the spirit of the
classical poet Virgil leads Dante through the nine circles of Hell on the
initial stage of his journey toward Heaven. Along the way Dante encounters and
describes in vivid detail the various types of sinners in the throes of their
eternal torment. Pulitzer Prize winning poet and Dante enthusiast James
Merrill praised the rare “priceless fidelity” of Longfellow’s groundbreaking
translation of Dante and once commented “Why, oh, why is the Longfellow Comedy
not in print?” Now Longfellow’s translation of Inferno, which has been out of
print for over forty years and largely neglected, finds a new life in this
authoritative Modern Library edition – not just a reissue, but a rediscovery.
This Modern Library paperback is set from the original 1867 Ticknor and Fields
edition and includes Longfellow’s two “Inferno” sonnets and all of Longfellow’s
original “Notes and Illustrations” (selected excerpts and essays about Dante’s
poem) from throughout the poet’s lifetime, compiled by the editor for the first
time as Longfellow intended them.The story behind Longfellow’s
translation provides a compelling match to Dante’s own turmoil as a poet and
exile. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow composed this powerful translation of Dante’s
Inferno as part of his coping process in the aftermath of his wife’s death. He
was assisted in his task by the group of prominent poets who rallied around him
and christened themselves the “Dante Club.” Longfellow’s much-anticipated
translation made Dante’s visionary poem of traveling through the afterlife
accessible to an American reading public for the very first
time.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, translator of this edition, was
an American poet, educator, and linguist, writing many long narrative poems,
including The Song of Hiawatha, Evangeline, and The Courtship
of Miles Standish.Matthew Pearl, editor and writer of the
Preface, is the author of the novel The Dante Club, published by Random
House, and is a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School. In 1998 he
won the prestigious Dante Prize from the Dante Society of America for his
scholarly work. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Lino
Pertile, writer of the Introduction, is a professor of Romance languages and
literature at Harvard University. He specializes in Dante and the Latin Middle
Ages.