Inferno

Bang has done for Dante's most famous poem something akin to what Baz Luhrmann did for Shakespeare in his 1996 film of Romeo and Juliet: updated the presentation of a classic for a contemporary sensibility without sacrificing its timelessness. Bang (The Bride of E) has preserved the feel and tempo of the original-and the many English translations that readers will be familiar with: "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," she begins. She has, however, modernized the metaphors; where Dante looked to the politics and culture of his contemporary Italy for allusions to illustrate his sense of faith and morality, Bang mines American pop and high culture. Yes, traditionalists and scholars may shriek upon seeing Eric Cartman (of South Park fame), sculptures by Rodin, John Wayne Gacy, and many others make anachronistic cameos in Bang's version of Hell, but this is still very much Dante's underworld, updated so it pops on today's page. The result is an epic both fresh and historical, scholarly and irreverent: " 'Pope Satan, Pope Satan, Alley Oop!' " begins Canto VII with a line in which Bang mines various previous translations of Dante and the roots of the phrase "Alley Oop" in French gymnastics and a newspaper comic about "a Stone Age traveling salesman from the kingdom of Moo who rode a dinosaur named Dinny," according to Bang's comprehensive notes. This will be the Dante for the next generation. Includes illustrations by artist Henrik Drescher. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

National Book Critics Circle Award-winning poet Bang (Elegy) offers an original and idiosyncratic version of the first part of Dante's Divine Comedy. Working from various English translations and the original, Bang seeks to bring out Dante's contemporary relevance by a frequent use of current idiom, borrowing from or transferring Dante's imagery to modern circumstances. Where Dante often quoted poet-songwriters of his day, Bang uses relevant passages from John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles. In a process of reverse reference, where many modern poets, such as T.S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath, quoted or paraphrased Dante, Bang puts these paraphrases back into the original. Her verse is vigorous, her imagery enjoyable and astute. Still, while her notes explain modern references, her knowledge of contemporary Dante scholarship is limited. The book is richly illustrated by Drescher, whose children's books include Love the Beastie and The Fool and the Flying Ship. VERDICT For readers already familiar with Dante, this is a rich, playful, and insightful poetic reading, true to the spirit if not the word. Those seeking a conventionally accurate translation should instead go to Mark Musa, Robert Pinsky, or Robert Hollander.-T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah, GA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.