My attempt at translation into English of Dante's "Purgatorio":
A letter to the Reader
Dear Reader,
You wonder, I am sure - supposing you are still with me, which is quite a leap of faith on my part -, why I am at it again after my former pledge (see the foreword to my version of "Inferno"( to stop at "Hell".
I would have much liked, indeed, to have been able to begin this letter with something like the following words:
"Yielding to the kindly pressing insistence of several friends, I went back on my previous decision of limiting myself to the damage already done, i. e. to the translation of 'Inferno', and so took up the task of attempting also a version of 'Purgatorio'...."
Unfortunately, such an incipit would be slightly untruthful. Indeed, several friends asked me half in joke -after browsing through my version of "Hell"- whether I thought of proceeding further; but none of them seemed particularly in need of a promise on my part to do so.
The plain truth is that a while after completion of the first part I began to feel not only a bit restless, but also quite curious to see what could well be the differences -in difficulty, in psychologic approach, in quality of results-, had I tackled this second part of Dante's masterpiece, in comparison with the first.
So, half uncommittedly, I decided to take up this task, purely as a trial, for the first Chant of Purgatory. Unexpectedly, this was not as tough, and the result seemed not quite as bad, as I had feared. From that to be drawn into an irresistible escalation from Chant to Chant the step was a very short one... and eventually I plunged for the whole thing.
* * *
Also for this second experience -as ...
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