This first volume of this new Divine Comedy presents the Italian text of the Inferno and, on facing pages, a new prose translation (the first in twenty-five years). Robert Durling's translation brings a new power and accuracy to the rendering of Dante's extraordinary vision of Hell, with all its terror, pathos, and sardonic humor, and its penetrating analyses of the psychology of sin and the ills that plague society. Martinez and Durling's introduction and notes are designed with the first-time reader of the poem in mind but will be useful to others as well. The concise introduction presents essential biographical and historical background and a discussion of the form of the poem. The notes are more extensive than those in most translations currently available, and they contain much new material. In addition, sixteen short essays explore the autobiographical dimension of the poem, the problematic body analogy, the question of Christ's presence in Hell, and individual cantos that have been the subject of controversy, including those on homosexuality. There is an extensive bibliography, and the four indexes (to foreign words, passages cited, proper names in the notes, and to proper names in the text and translation) will make the volume particularly useful. Robert Turner's illustrations include detailed maps of Italy, clearly labeled diagrams of the cosmos and of the structure of Hell, and line drawings illustrating objects and places mentioned in the poem.

Robert M. Durling is Professor Emeritus of Italian and English Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His translation of Petrarch's Lyric Poetry (1976) has been widely acclaimed.
Ronald L. Martinez is Associate Professor of Italian at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He is the author of articles on Dante, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, and Ariosto.
Robert Turner has been a professional illustrator since 1979; he is employed as a graphic artist in archaeology at the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe.