Inferno

Stopped mid-motion in the middle

Of what we call our life, I looked up and saw no sky—

Only a dense cage of leaf, tree, and twig. I was lost.

                        —from Canto I

“The only good Hell to be in right now is poet Mary Jo Bangs innovative, new translation of Dantes Inferno, illustrated with drawings by Henrik Drescher. Bangs thrillingly contemporary translation of the first part (the juiciest part) of Alighieris fourteenth-century poem The Divine Comedy is indeed epic . . . Once you embark on this journey, you may wish to read not only all of Mary Jo Bangs work but all of Dantes, too.” —Vanity Fair

“Imagine a contemporary translation of Dante that includes references to Pink Floyd, South Park, Donald Rumsfeld, and Star Trek. Now imagine that this isnt gimmicky . . . Imagine instead that the old warhorse is now scary again, and perversely funny, and lyrical and faux-lyrical in a way that sounds sometimes like Auden, sometimes like Nabokov, but always like Mary Jo Bang.” —BOMB