DANTE

born c. May 21June 20, 1265, Florence, Italy died Sept. 13/14, 1321, Ravenna in full Dante Alighieri Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy). Dante's Divine Comedy, a great work of medieval literature, is a profound Christian vision of man's temporal and eternal destiny. On its most personal level, it draws on the poet's own experience of exile from his native city of Florence; on its most comprehensive level, it may be read as an allegory, taking the form of a journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise. The poem amazes by its array of learning, its penetrating and comprehensive analysis of contemporary problems, and its inventiveness of language and imagery. By choosing to write his poem in Italian rather than in Latin, Dante decisively influenced the course of literary development. Not only did he lend a voice to the emerging lay culture of his own country, but Italian became the literary language in western Europe for several centuries. In addition to poetry Dante wrote important theoretical works ranging from discussions of rhetoric to moral philosophy and political thought. He was fully conversant with the classical tradition, drawing for his own purposes on such writers as Virgil, Cicero, and Boethius. But, most unusual for a layman, he also had an impressive command of the most recent scholastic philosophy and of theology. His learning and his personal involvement in the heated political controversies of his age led him to the composition of De monarchia, one of the major tracts of medieval political philosophy. Additional reading Biographies Ricardo J. Quinones, Dante Alighieri (1979, reprinted 1985), an overview; Cecil Grayson (ed.), The World of Dante: Essays on Dante and His Times (1980); and William Anderson, Dante the Maker (1980), a critical biographical study, with the emphasis on Dante's creative processes. See also Patrick Boyde, Dante, Philomythes and Philosopher: Man in the Cosmos (1981), an examination of Dante's intellectual concerns. Commentaries For extracts from early commentaries, see Guido Biagi et al. (eds.), La Divina Commedia nella figurazione artistica e nel secolare commento (192140), issued in separate parts, and its useful bibliography. Modern commentaries on The Divine Comedy include those by Giuseppe Vandelli, Carlo Grabher, Manfredi Porena, Attilio Momigliano, and Natalino Sapegno in their respective editions of La divina commedia. See also Francesco Mazzoni, Saggio di un nuovo commento alla Divina Commedia (1967). For English-speaking readers, the commentary of Charles H. Grandgent (ed.), La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri (1933; rev. ed. by Charles S. Singleton, 1972), is excellent; as is that of Charles S. Singleton (trans. and ed.), The Divine Comedy (197075). See also George Holmes, Dante (1980), a brief study; Mark Musa, Advent at the Gates (1974), a study of seven cantos; and David Nolan (ed.), Dante Commentaries: Eight Studies of the Divine Comedy (1977), and Dante Soundings: Eight Literary and Historical Essays (1981). Introductory works Of the general works available to English-speaking readers, see especially Ernest Hatch Wilkins and Thomas Goddard Bergin, A Concordance to the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (1965). Edward S. Sheldon and Alain C. White, Concordanza delle opere italiane in prosa e del Canzoniere di Dante Alighieri (1905, reprinted 1969 with Supplementary Concordance to the Minor Italian Works of Dante, comp. by Lewis H. Gordon); and Edward Kennard Rand and Ernest Hatch Wilkins, Dantis Alagherii Operum Latinorum Concordantiae, to the Latin works (1912, reprinted 1970), are also useful. Paget Toynbee, A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante, new ed., rev. by Charles S. Singleton (1968), is invaluable. Excellent introductions to Dante include Umberto Cosmo, A Handbook to Dante Studies (1947, reprinted 1978; originally published in Italian, 1947); Michele Barbi, Life of Dante (1954, reprinted 1966; originally published in Italian, 1933); and Thomas Goddard Bergin, Dante (1965, reprinted 1976). Also useful are Nicola Zingarelli, La vita, i tempi e le opere di Dante, 3rd ed., 2 vol. (1931); and Aldo Vallone, Dante, 2nd ed. (1981). Essential information is found in Codice diplomatico dantesco, ed. by Renato Piattoli, 2nd ed. (1950); and in Enciclopedia dantesca, 2nd ed., 5 vol. (1984). General studies Edward Moore, Studies in Dante, 4 vol. (18961917, reprinted with new introductory matter ed. by Colin Hardie, 1969); Paget Toynbee, Dante Studies (1921); Benedetto Croce, The Poetry of Dante (1922, reissued 1971; originally published in Italian, 1920); T.S. Eliot, Dante (1929; reprinted 1974); John Freccero (ed.), Dante: A Collection of Critical Essays (1965); Uberto Limentani (ed.), The Mind of Dante (1965); Oxford Dante Society, Centenary Essays on Dante (1965); William J. De Sua and Gino Rizzo (eds.), A Dante Symposium (1965); Francesco Mazzoni, Contributi di filologia dantesca (1966). Specialized studies On the Vita nuova, see Charles S. Singleton, An Essay on the Vita Nuova (1949, reprinted 1977); on the canzoni, Patrick Boyde, Dante's Style in His Lyric Poetry (1971); on Dante's philosophical thought, tienne Gilson, Dante the Philosopher (1948, reissued 1963; originally published in French, 1939); on Dante's political thought, Alessandro Passerin D'entrves, Dante as a Political Thinker (1952, reprinted 1965); Ewart K. Lewis, Medieval Political Ideas, 2 vol. (1954, reprinted 1974); Charles T. Davis, Dante and the Idea of Rome (1957); and Dante's Italy (1984); on The Divine Comedy, William H.V. Reade, The Moral System of Dante's Inferno (1909, reprinted 1969); Karl Vossler, Medieval Culture: An Introduction to Dante and His Times, 2 vol. (1929, reissued 1970; originally published in German, 190710); Ernst Robert Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (1953, reissued 1973; originally published in German, 1948); Francis Fergusson, Dante's Drama of the Mind (1953, reissued 1981); Charles S. Singleton, Dante Studies: vol. 1, Commedia: Elements of Structure (1954, reprinted 1977), and vol. 2, Journey to Beatrice (1958); Johan Chydenius, The Typological Problem in Dante (1958); Joseph A. Mazzeo, Structure and Thought in the Paradiso (1958, reissued 1968), and Medieval Cultural Tradition in Dante's Comedy (1960, reprinted 1968); Irma Brandeis, The Ladder of Vision: A Study of Dante's Comedy (1960); Helen F. Dunbar, Symbolism in Medieval Thought and Its Consummation in the Divine Comedy (1929, reissued 1961); Thomas Goddard Bergin, Perspectives on the Divine Comedy (1967), and A Diversity of Dante (1969). Illuminated manuscripts Peter H. Brieger, Millard Meiss, and Charles S. Singleton, Illuminated Manuscripts of the Divine Comedy, 2 vol. (1969). Bibliographies Paul Colomb De Batines, Bibliografia dantesca, trans. from the French, 2 vol. in 3 (184546), supplemented by Guido Biagi, Giunte e correzioni inediti alla Bibliografia dantesca (1888); continued also in Carlo F. Carpellini, Della letteratura dantesca degli ultimi venti anni dal 1845 a tutto il 1865 (1866); Cornell University Library, Catalogue of the Dante Collection, comp. by Theodore Wesley Koch, 2 vol. (18981900), and Catalogue of the Dante Collection Additions 18981920, comp. by Mary Fowler (1921); and Giuliano Mambelli, Gli annali delle edizioni dantesche (1931, reprinted 1965). For post-World War II studies, see Aldo Vallone, Gli studi danteschi dal 1940 al 1949 (1950); and Enzo Esposito, Gli studi danteschi dal 1950 al 1964 (1965). Annual bibliographies of Dante studies published in the United States are printed in Dante Studies (annual), published by the Dante Society of America (founded 1881). Bodies specializing in Dante studies have been established in many countries. Apart from the Societ Dantesca Italiana (founded 1888), of special interest to English-speaking readers is the Oxford Dante Society (founded 1876). Ricardo J. Quinones Major Works: Individual works La commedia (1472); Vita nuova (1576). Lyric poetry Canzoni e madrigali di Dante, di Mess. Gino da Pistoja e di Giraldo Novello (1518); Rime di diversi antichi autori toscani in dieci libri (1532). Treatises Convivio di Dante Alighieri fiorentino (1490); De vulgari eloquentia libri duo (1577); Dantis Aligherii Florentini Monarchia (1740). Latin eclogues I versi latini di Giovanni del Virgilio e di Dante Allighieri (1845). Recommended modern editions Because Dante lived and worked long before book printing began, the works above are early printed editions of his works in the original languages. The following modern editions can be recommended: La commedia secondo l'antica vulgata, ed. by Giorgio Petrocchi (196667); La divina commedia, ed. by Natalino Sapegno, 3rd ed. (1985), with excellent commentary; The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, trans. by John D. Sinclair (1958), with superb small essays for each canto; The Divine Comedy, trans. with a commentary by Charles S. Singleton (197075), the most useful work in English, published in the Bollingen series.La vita nuova, ed. by Michele Barbi (1932), a critical edition; Dante's Vita Nuova, trans. by Mark Musa, new ed. (1973).Rime della Vita nuova e della giovinezza, ed. by Michele Barbi and F. Maggini (1956); Rime della maturit e dell'esilio, ed. by Michele Barbi and V. Pernicone (1969); Rime. ed. by Gianfranco Contini (1965); Dante's Lyric Poetry, ed. and trans. by K. Foster and P. Boyde (1967).Il convivio, 2nd ed., ed. by G. Busnelli, G. Vandelli, and Antonio E. Quaglio (1968); Dante's Convivio, trans. by William Walrond Jackson (1909).De vulgari eloquentia, ed. by Aristide Marigo (1957); Dante's Treatise De Vulgari Eloquenti, trans. by A.G. Ferrers Howell (1890); Literary Criticism of Dante Alighieri, trans. and ed. by Robert S. Haller (1973).Monarchia, ed. by Pier Giorgio Ricci (1965); On World Government, or, De Monarchia, trans. by Herbert W. Schneider, 2nd rev. ed. (1957).Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio, Including a Critical Edition of the Text of Dante's Eclogae Latinae and of the Poetic Remains of Giovanni del Virgilio, ed. by Philip H. Wicksteed and Edmund G. Gardner (1902). Collected works Le opere di Dante: testo critico della societ dantesca italiana, ed. by Michele Barbi et al., 2nd ed. (1960); Le opere di Dante Alighieri, ed. by E. Moore and Paget Toynbee, 5th ed. (1963).