Dante: Contemporary Perspectives gathers recent and newly commissioned articles on Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), whose epic the Divine Comedy, is one of the landmarks of world literature. The essays in this volume probe current critical assumptions about the celebrated Italian poet, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political theorist. Dante's attitude towards poetic authority and language comes under scrutiny in several essays, while others examine his political thought and his views on women and gender. Several articles focus exclusively on the Divine Comedy, and, in particular, on its distinctive textual characteristics. There are new readings of two of the Divine Comedy's most important episodes – those of Paolo and Francesca, the Earthly Paradise, and Ulysses – whose significance extends far beyond their immediate contexts. These essays bring into focus Dante's bold narrative innovations and reflections on literature and history.

The essays in this volume probe current critical assumptions about the celebrated Italian poet, literary theorist, moral philosopher, political theorist.

  • Imprint: University of Toronto Press
  • Published: April 1997
  • Pages: 256

The late Amilcare Iannucci was a professor in the Department of Italian Studies and the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto. He was the author of a book on Dante, Forma ed evento nella Divina Commedia, and editor of Dante Today.

Chapters

PDF
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Dante and Medieval Poetics
Palinode and History in the Oeuvre of Dante
Dante and the Classics
Dante and the Bible: Biblical Citation in the Divine Comedy
Forbidden Love: Metaphor and History (Inferno 5)
Dante's Ulysses: Narrative and Transgression
Narrative Design in Dante's Earthly Paradise
A Desire of Paradise and a Paradise of Desire: Dante and Mysticism
Dante and the Authority of Poetic Language
Dante and Politics
Dante and Androgyny
Singing the Book: Orality in the Reception of Dante's Comedy
Interpreting the Commentary Tradition to the Comedy
Reader's Application and the Moment of Truth in Dante's Divine Comedy
Notes on Contributors
Index

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