Dante's Inferno And The Nine Layers Of Hell

Hello,
Right now, I am looking for an orginal copy of this. I've been trying to find one for ageeeeeeeees but I've had no luck, I've only been able to find it "Dante's Inferno AS TOLD BY SUCH AND SUCH" And I want the ORGINAL. Can anyone help me find a copy, or does anyone else know a bookstore that carries it? I've always been curious to read this, and it's bugging me I can't find a copy!
Also, has anyone else read it? Can you offer any opinions? All I've heard is that it is very intense...

Thanks guys

 

you want one thats not in english?

 

Haha.. Alright... Ya got me there, since I can't read Italian I do want a copy in English. But I just want Dante's Inferno! I dont' want it as told by somebody or another, I just want it as told by him! (Accuratly translated into English)

 

i think by "as told by" they mean "as translated by"

 

But I don't know which one to choose! I've only seen about 50 of them, "as told by" 50 different people, surely they're not all exactly the same thing... How am I supposed to choose a copy that's accurate as to what the author wrote?

 

What do you mean original? A 500 or 600 hundred year old incredibly famous peom (which Im guessing was when it was first translated to English?) is going to cost you more than a pretty penny, and you probably won't be able to understand hardly any of it anyhow.


Books are frequently translated by people who are insanely familiar with the languages so that they don't become "stale" so to speak. So its not that it's "told" by different people, its translated by different people. I'd suggest reading a few lines of a few different ones and seeing which one "speaks" to you the most.

 

Right, often words don't translate in the same way, so the translator has to know the meaning behind the word rather than just convert the words. Otherwise, it won't make any sense (like those online language translaters, you put something in and translate it, but it doesn't make much sense to read it).

 

I'd recommend Dorothy L. Sayers translation. Don't know about international availability, but in the UK it is published by Penguin books. She translates it well, and the notes are excellent, and essential unless you are an expert in renaissance history and medieval catholicism.