I have read the Sayers translation for fun (and it was fun), but not recently. IIRC Lewis said something to the effect that she got one side of Dante very well indeed. Wait, found it: https://www.eighthdayinstitute.org/a-panegyric-for-dorothy-sayers "She had been startled and delighted by something in Dante for which no critic, and no earlier translator, had prepared her: his sheer narrative impetus, his frequent homeliness, his high comedy, his grotesque buffoonery. These qualities she was determined to preserve at all costs. If, in order to do so, she had to sacrifice sweetness or sublimity, then sacrificed they should be. Hence her audacities in both language and rhythm."
He goes on to talk about her Purgatorio being "richer, more liquid, more elevated," but I have always found both the Purgatorio and the Paradiso vastly less interesting, so I am unable to confirm his judgment.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2024-01-06 05:44 am (UTC)He goes on to talk about her Purgatorio being "richer, more liquid, more elevated," but I have always found both the Purgatorio and the Paradiso vastly less interesting, so I am unable to confirm his judgment.