Anthony M. Esolen is a professor of English at Providence College and noted translator of classic works, as well as a popular writer for magazines like the Claremont Review and Touchstone, of which he is a senior editor. He has translated Dante's Divine Comedy, Lucretius' On the Nature of Things, and Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. He also writes a column for the Inside Catholic website.
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Esolen graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1981. He pursued graduate work from the University of North Carolina, receiving his M.A. in 1981 and his Ph.D. in 1987. His dissertation was titled "A Rhetoric of Spenserian Irony" and was directed by S.K. Heninger.[1]
He taught at the University of North Carolina from 1985 to 1988 and then at Furman University from 1988 to 1990. He began teaching at Providence College in 1990, becoming a full professor in 1995.[2]
Along with teaching, Esolen publishes articles and books on a regular basis, as well as accepting media interviews. Publications frequently appear in The Catholic World Report, Touchstone Magazine.[3] He also serves as an editor with Touchstone Magazine.[4]
Esolen is best-known as a translator of the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri. His translation of the Inferno appeared in 2002, the Purgatory in 2003, and the Paradise in 2005.[5] Esolen's translations are unique for their deliberate choice not to attempt a "preservation of Dante's rhyme in any systematic form". [6] In lieu of Dante's famous terza rima, Esolen's Inferno depends on the use of blank verse, or unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter (first notable for its use in Milton's Paradise Lost) Esolen writes that the use of blank verse allows him to retain both the "meaning [and the] music" of Dante's original. [7] The works also feature, alongside the English translation, the original Italian text. Esolen notes that this text "is based on the editions of Giorgio Petrocchi (1965) and Umberto Bosco and Giovanni Reggio" (1979)". [8] Finally, the translations include Esolen's notes and commentary on the text, as well as illustrations by Gustave Doré. [9]
Esolen has also published translations of other classical texts, including Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered and Lucretius' De Rerum Natura (both published by Johns Hopkins University Press). [10]
Esolen's most recent published work is Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, released by ISI Press in 2010. Other non-fiction works include The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization; published by Regnery Press in 2008 and Ironies of Faith: The Deep Laughter at the Heart of Christian Literature, also from ISI Press and published in 2007.He has also written an introduction to Etienne Gilson's "Dante the Philosopher" and published a book of poetry, "Peppers" (released in 1991). [11]