Some Basic Reference Materials for Dante's DIVINE COMEDY

Page 2a

Recent Commentaries in English

Important Note

Some translations have such extensive footnotes that they could be considered also as Commentaries. It is important, therefore, to consult the section entitled ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS for such books, which is the sixth section in this Bibliography.

A good example of this is the recent translation of the Inferno and Purgatorio (2000 and 2002) by Jean and Robert Hollander. This bilingual translation has such extensive footnotes that it could also be considered a Commentary.

The same is true, obviously, for the popular paperback editions by Musa, Sayers, Ciardi, etc. The focus in the present section of this Bibliography is on the books whose main focus is to be a commentary, whether or not a translation accompanies the commentary (as it does, for example, with Singleton, Musa, Durling-Martinez, etc., but not with Mandelbaum).

You may wish to consult the article by Robert Hollander, "A Checklist of Commentaries on the COMMEDIA (1322 - 1982)," in Dante Studies 101 (1983): 181 - 192. Also, Michael Caesar, ed., Dante: The Critical Heritage 1314 - 1870 (London, 1989).

11. Charles S. Singleton, The Divine Comedy. (Princeton, 1970-75; Bollingen Series Number LXXX). In six volumes: three with Italian text and facing English prose translation, three with commentary. At the end of each text volume there is an Index of the persons and places mentioned in that part of the Comedy. At the end of each commentary volume there is a bibliography. There is no Index or Glossary of the complete Comedy. Quotations in the commentary volumes are translated into English (except for quotes from the Comedy itself). There are occasional maps and illustrations. To the general call number you need to add the volume and part number: e.g., the Inferno text-translation is v. 1, part 1; the Inferno commentary is v. 1, part 2. Some volumes have F77 at than end of the call number instead of F70; these are corrected editions of 1977. This commentary is included in the Dartmouth Dante Project. See next section, "Other Commentaries." Commentary pages = 2,130 total for 3 volumes
PQ432.F70/F77

v.1, pt.1 (etc.)

12. Mark Musa, The Divine Comedy. (Indiana, 1996-2004). This has six volumes, three of text and facing poetic translation, three of commentary: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso. There is no Index to the text itself, only to the persons and topics mentioned in the commentary volumes. There is a bibliography at the end of each commentary volume. Like Singleton, Musa also translates into English all foreign-language quotations used in the commentary, but usually not words from the Italian text of the Comedy itself. From what I have read it is not just a revision/addition of his earlier notes in his Penguin paperback (and other) editions. It is completely new, far more complete and as important a commentary as has appeared recently in English.. Like Singleton, it is attractively printed; it is easier to use simply because the pages are larger. Musa has made a number of changes from his previous translation of the text (still in print as Penguin paperbacks).

PQ4315.2.M77,1996

v. 1,2,3,4
(also at St. John's)

13. Robert M. Durling and Ronald L. Martinez, The Divine Comedy: Inferno (Oxford, 1996) and Purgatorio (Oxford, 2003); both available also in paperback. This eventually will be a three-volume set, with text and facing prose translation at the beginning and footnotes at the end of each Canto. Though not on the same scale as Musa and Singleton, it is attractively printed, with good notes and (for some Cantos) additional extended essays at the back (called Additional Notes) which should be consulted, though it is easy to miss the fact that they are there. They also have good bibliographies and the most helpful indices I have seen in any translation text: There are four indices: of Italian and other words discussed in the notes; of passages from biblical, classical and medieval authors; of proper names and places mentioned in the footnotes; and proper names and places mentioned in the text itself. A unique and most helpful feature of the Purgatorio volume is the section (called Inter Cantica) at the end of each Canto's footnotes, suggesting how a particular Canto (or set of Cantos) connects with one or more Cantos in the Inferno. I presume this most helpful feature, unique to this Commentary, will also be found in the Paradiso volume when it appears, thereby connecting all three Cantica.

PQ4315.D87.1996

14. Charles H. Grandgent and Charles S. Singleton, La Divina Commedia. (Harvard, 1909; revised in 1933 and in 1972 by Charles S. Singleton). This was the first annotated edition of the Comedy published in America. The text is only the Italian; no translation. Footnotes are brief, but pre-notes to each Canto are excellent - better than the three editions listed above. There is an Index at the back (p. 937-950) of the persons and places mentioned in the whole Comedy. This is a single-volume work. A one-volume edition of the introductory notes, footnotes & index is published as Companion to the Divine Comedy (1975). Call #PQ4464.G7. This commentary is also accessible through the Dartmouth Dante Project. See next section, "Other Commentaries."

PQ4302.F72 (includes text)
PQ4464.G7 (commentary only)

14a. Allen Mandelbaum, Anthony Oldcorn and Charles Ross have recently edited a canto-by-canto commentary on the INFERNO (Univ. of California, 1998), with contributions from an international group of scholars, (e.g. Handelbaum, Hollander, Durling, Ferrante, Massotta, Dante Della Terza, etc., including Maria Simonelli, who taught here at Boston College from 1967-1984.) Entitled LECTURA DANTIS-INFERNO (also called the California Lectura Dantis), it is meant as a companion to Mandelbaum's translation which was published in 1980 (cf. page 9 of this bibliography), and I presume that two additional volumes will follow with a similar format for the Purgatorio and Paradiso. Commentary on each canto runs about 10-12 pages and includes, at the end of each canto, an excellent bibliography and/or bibliographical essay on that canto. There is a general bibliography at the end (8 pages), including a listing of some electronic resources for Dante studies. A problem with this fine volume, however, is that citations to Virgil's AENEID are not to the lines of the Latin text but to the lines of Mandelbaum's English translation of the AENEID, published by California in 1971. References to the Bible are to the Douai-Rheims English translation (of 1582 and 1609), since the basis of that translation was the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin version of 404), which was the Bible that Dante used. (The Gutenberg Bible of 1456 is also based on the Latin Vulgate of Jerome. For more on this see page 3 in this bibliography). It is important to know that the Douai-Rheims version is being cited here because in that version the numbering of some of the Psalms differs by one number from more modern translations, so it is important to check the reference depending upon the translation you are using. References to other classical authors, however, are to the standard original texts and line numbers. The exception for the AENEID is puzzling, unless it is to sell more copies of Mandelbaum's translation (now in Bantam paperback), even if this commentary is intended as a companion to that translation. In any case, this is an excellent addition to the many fine aids we now have so readily available for the study of Dante. 460 pages, with bibliography.

PQ 4443.L38 (1998)

14a (additional comment): There is a fine copy of the three-volume hardcover set of Mandelbaum's translation (with facing Italian text and Moser's illustrations) at St. John’s Seminary. Published by California.

                                                                                                            Inferno = PQ4315. 2.M3. 1980
                                                                                                            Purgatorio = PQ4315.3.M3.1982
                                                                                                            Paradisio = PQ 4315.4.M3.1982
                                                                                                            (at St. John’s Seminary)

Note that Mandelbaum's translation of the Divine Comedy is now one of the volumes published in the Everyman's Library Series, in a single volume (hardcover), English translation only (the Bantam paperback also has the facing Italian text), footnotes at the back (I think the Bantam notes are more extensive, being in three volumes). A handy feature of the Everyman edition is a list of citations and references to classical authors mentioned or alluded to in the Comedy; this is at the back of the volume. Having the entire Comedy in a single hardcover volume is certainly helpful. The Everyman's Library series is now published by Knopf and Mandelbaum's translation (originally published by California in 1980,'82,'84) was added to the series in 1995, along with illustrations by Botticelli (ca. 1445-1510). This edition has 250 pages of notes and 6 pages of the index of classical authors. The original edition had original illustrations by Barry Moser; these are included also in the three-volume Bantam paperback edition which is still in print (bilingual; first published by Bantam in 1982-86, with notes by various scholars, Anthony Oldcorn among them (for the Paradiso). Another helpful feature of the Everyman edition is the five-page categorized bibliography, printed at the end of the general introduction, as well as a 14-page comparative chronology of Dante and his times. The bibliography is current to about 1993. 800 pages.

14b. Similar in format to the entry above is the single-volume of the LECTURA DANTIS VIRGINIANA, published in the Spring of 1990 as a supplement to volume 6 of that series and dedicated to commentaries on each canto of the INFERNO by 34 different scholars (among them Bergin, Cherchi, Della Terza, etc.). Each commentary runs about 12 pages, followed by footnotes and (sometimes) brief bibliography on that canto. Some of the commentaries have been previously published in the LECTURA DANTIS VIRGINIANA periodical series (from volumes 1-4, 1987-1989; the list of reprinted essays is on page 4). Quotations from the COMEDY are in Italian and are not translated, nor are most of the citations from classical and other authors. The editor is Tibor Wlassics; the title on the binding of our copy is simply LECTURA DANTIS. The formal title of the volume is DANTE'S INFERNO - INTRODUCTORY READINGS. (Charlottesville, VA.) The volume is 435 pages long. The number of commentaries previously printed and reproduced in this volume is 14.

PQ 4331.A36.#6,supp.

Back to Index

14c. Northwestern University publishes the LECTURA DANTIS NEWBERRYANA, edited by Paolo Cherchi and Antonio Mastrobuono (1988 ff.). This ranges over all of Dante's works and is not confined to commentary essays.

14d. The LECTURA DANTIS AMERICANA is a series of volumes edited by Robert Hollander, with each volume entirely devoted to a single canto of the INFERNO. So far only three have appeared: I by Anthony Cassell in 1989; II by Rachel Jacoff in 1989; III by Maria Simonelli in 1993; she used to teach here at Boston College. For some reason they do not all have the same call number in our Library. The St. John's Seminary Library also has a copy.

                                                                                                                     PQ 4315.2.C35 (I)
                                                                                                                     PQ 4315.2.J34    (II)
                                                                                                                     PQ 4445.P53    (III)
                                                                                                                     (also at St. John's)

NOTE: Keep your eye out for the subsequent volumes in the Musa text and commentary series, published by University of Indiana (number 12 on the previous pages of this Bibliography), as well as for the additional volumes in the set, published by Oxford, by Durling and Martinez, (number 13) and by Mandelbaum, published by California (number 14a on the previous page).

NOTE: Many of the commentaries listed above (Singleton, Grandgent, Musa, Durling, Virginiana) are on the reserve shelf in O'Neill for my course. (HP 001-004).

INDEX TO THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY