Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Biography
By Joseph Luzzi
Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691156774
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri stands as one of medieval literature’s greatest masterpieces. This book follows the remarkable journey of Dante’s epic, from its creation in the early 1300s through centuries of both fame and neglect, to its enduring influence today, inspiring books, movies, and more.
Excerpt:
One thing becomes clear to anyone who hopes to write a biography of Dante’s magnum opus, The Divine Comedy, and its secular and spiritual impact: a chronological or geographical survey is out of the question, unless one plans to spend a lifetime compiling the oceanic amount of material and trying to convince one’s editor to publish a work whose pages would perforce run into the tens if not hundreds of thousands. The recent decades in particular have seen a salubrious expansion of studies on Dante’s far-reaching influence outside of the traditional Anglo-European context and into such areas as his presence among historically marginalized writers and the Commedia’s impact in popular media forms outside of the literacy and visual arts.
Who is this book for?
Dante lovers will appreciate this insightful history of The Divine Comedy. Rather than centering on Dante himself and his writing process, this book explores how readers through the ages have responded to his work and how it shaped Italian language and literature, solidifying its monumental influence.
The Author
Joseph Luzzi is a Professor of Literature at Bard College, where his research often focuses on Dante.
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website
You can buy this book on Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk
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