Dante in tedesco: l'incipit della Commedia in August Wilhelm Schlegel

Dante’s Divine Comedy has been translated into German several times across the last three centuries. This paper shall focus on August Wilhelm Schlegel’s fragmented yet influential translation, published between 1791 and 1799, which marks a turning point in Dante’s reception in German-speaking countries, showing to what extent a translation can reflect and foster the evolving cultural and literary trends of the translator’s lifetime. After centuries of disregard, Schlegel’s approach to Dante, blending translation with theoretical reflection, solidifies Dante’s position as a foundational figure in Romantic thought, underscoring his relevance to the modern vision of art and humanity. Schlegel embraces Dante's tercet structure while introducing unique modifications which alter the rhyme scheme, thus balancing fidelity to the source with creative freedom. A comparison of the first six lines from Inferno in Schlegel’s and previous translations exemplifies the novelties on a grammar, lexical and versification level, trying to point out how the poet’s self becomes central in his effort to get rid of any constraint like a Romantic hero, as well as in his vindication of free will, which inevitably brings about the anguish of choice and the risk of deviating from the main road.