Purgatory (Modern Library)

A brilliant new translation of the centerpiece of The Divine Comedy

Purgatory, the mountain that straightens souls made crooked by the world, is Dante’s single most conceptually brilliant creation. Anthony Esolen’s vivid and innovative new rendering unearths Dante’s own voice with unprecedented vigor, accuracy, and a masterly use of English meter. It will set the standard for years to come.

Esolen’s Introduction incisively explores Dante’s theological universe: the nature of Purgatory, how Dante came to invent it, and how Purgatory is finally about restoration, liberation, and friendship. Special features, from an appendix that reproduces key sources to extensive explanatory notes, make this a particularly illuminating edition for both expert and newcomer.

Anthony Esolen is the author of over twenty-five books and over 600 articles in both scholarly and general interest journals.  A senior editor of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, Esolen is known for his elegant essays on the faith and for his clear social commentaries.  His articles appear regularly in Touchstone, Crisis, First Things, Public Discourse, The Catholic Thing, Chronicles, and Magnificat.  

An accomplished poet in his own right, Esolen is known for his widely acclaimed three-volume verse translation of Dante's Divine Comedy (Modern Library) and for his verse translation of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered (Johns Hopkins).  His Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child  has been described as "a worthy successor to C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man."  And its sequel, Life Under Compulsion, has been called "essential reading for parents, educators, and anyone who is concerned to rescue children from the tedious and vacuous thing childhood has become." His recent books include Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture, Nostalgia: Going Home in a Homeless World, and, No Apologies: How Civilization Depends on the Strength of Men.

The grandson of Italian immigrants to America, Dr. Esolen was born and raised in the coal-mining country of Northeastern Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. from Princeton University, and his Ph. D. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  He is a professor of humanities and writer-in-residence at Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in Warner, New Hampshire.