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.

Robert M. Durling is Professor Emeritus of English and Italian Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Ronald L. Martinez is Professor of Italian at Brown University. Their works together include Dante's Inferno and Purgatorio and Time and the Crystal: Studies in Dante's "Rime petrose."
Robert Turner has been a professional illustrator for thirty years.

CONTENTS
Abbreviations, xv
Introduction, 2
PARADISO
CANTO 1
Notes to Canto 1
CANTO 2
Notes to Canto 2
CANTO 3
Notes to Canto 3
CANTO 4
Notes to Canto 4
CANTO 5
Notes to Canto 5
CANTO 6
Notes to Canto 6
CANTO 7
Notes to Canto 7
CANTO 8
Notes to Canto 8
CANTO 9
Notes to Canto 9
CANTO 10
Notes to Canto 10
CANTO 11
Notes to Canto 11
CANTO 12
Notes to Canto 12
CANTO 13
Notes to Canto 13
CANTO 14
Notes to Canto 14
CANTO 15
Notes to Canto 15
CANTO 16
Notes to Canto 16
CANTO 17
Notes to Canto 17
CANTO 18
Notes to Canto 18
CANTO 19
Notes to Canto 19
CANTO 20
Notes to Canto 20
CANTO 21
Notes to Canto 21
CANTO 22
Notes to Canto 22
CANTO 23
Notes to Canto 23
CANTO 24
Notes to Canto 24
CANTO 25
Notes to Canto 25
CANTO 26
Notes to Canto 26
CANTO 27
Notes to Canto 27
CANTO 28
Notes to Canto 28
CANTO 29
Notes to Canto 29
CANTO 30
Notes to Canto 30
CANTO 31
Notes to Canto 31
CANTO 32
Notes to Canto 32
CANTO 33
Notes to Canto 33
THE NICENE CREED
BOETHIUS' O QUI PERPETUA MUNDUM RATIONE GUBERNAS
Notes to "O qui perpetua'
ADDITIONAL NOTES
1. The Figure of Beatrice (After Canto 2)
2. The Paradiso and the Monarchia
3.The Primacy of the Intellect, the Sun, and the Circling Theologians (After Canto 14)
4. Dante and the Liturgy (After Canto 15)
5. The Religious Orders in the Paradiso
6. The Threshold Cantos in the Comedy
7. The Fate of Phaethon in the Comedy
8. Circle-Cross-Eagle-Scales: Images in the Paradiso
9. The Final Image
10. The Neoplatonic Background
11. Dante and Neoplatonism
12. Dante's Astrology
13. The Heavens and the Sciences: Convivio 2
14. The Paradiso as Alpha and Omega
Textual Variants
Bibliography
Index of Italian, Latin, and Other Foreign Words Discussed in the Notes
Index of Passages Cited in the Notes
Index of Proper Names in the Notes
Index of Proper Names in the Text and Translation