"What drew such disparate poets as Amy Clampitt, W. S. Merwin, Sharon Olds, Galway Kinnell, Mark Strand, C.K. Williams, and Alfred Corn into the translating project? The glory of the poem itself, the grand enterprise of making a work written 700 years ago beautiful for a new generation."-- Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, Editor, "The New York Times Book Review""Many hands have made, in the present case, not light but lasting work."-- James Merrill"It seems right that Dante would provide such an unusual meeting ground of cultures, eras, and writers: his voice took in many voices. Curious, questing, and provocative, this literary project should be a signpost to anyone who cares about language."-- "Publisbers Weekly""Virgil's design for Dante, that he will 'grow used/to the sad stench, ' for 'after a short while/human senses numb, ' does not extend to this volume's readers; our senses are continually jostled and primed by the unexpected shifts in style."-- "The New Yorker"

A new telling of Dante's Inferno , this translation is the most fluent, grippingly readable version of the famous poem yet, and—with all the consummate technical skill that is the hallmark of Sean O'Brien's own poetry—manages the near-impossible task of preserving the subtle power and lyric nuance of the Italian original, while seeking out an entirely natural English music. No other version has so vividly expressed the horror, cruelty, beauty, and outrageous imaginative flight of Dante's original vision.