Commentary

[in chronological order]

Dante’s Philosophical Life by Paul Stern

- Stern, Paul. Dante’s Philosophical Life: Politics and Human Wisdom in “Purgatorio.” Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated, 2018.
From the publisher: When political theorists teach the history of political philosophy, they typically skip from the ancient Greeks and Cicero to Augustine in the fifth century and Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth, and then on to the origins of modernity with… More

The Genesis of Secular Politics in Medieval Philosophy: the King of Averroes and the Emperor of Dante

- Ahmed, Sabeen. “The Genesis of Secular Politics in Medieval Philosophy: The King of Averroes and the Emperor of Dante.” Labyrinth 18, no. 2 (2016): 209–31.
Excerpt: In contemporary political discourse, the “clash of civilizations” rhetoric often undergirds philosophical analyses of “democracy” both at home and abroad. This is nowhere better articulated than in Jacques Derrida’s… More

Dante: A Very Short Introduction

- Hainsworth, P, and D Robey. Dante: A Very Short Introduction. Very Short Introductions. Oxford: OUP Oxford, 2015.
From the publisher: In this Very Short Introduction, Peter Hainsworth and David Robey take a different approach to Dante, by examining the main themes and issues that run through all of his work, ranging from autobiography, to understanding God and the order… More

Dante in Context

- Barański, Zygmunt, and Lino Pertile. Dante in Context. Edited by Zygmunt Barański and Lino Pertile. Literature in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
From the publisher: In the past seven centuries Dante has become world renowned, with his works translated into multiple languages and read by people of all ages and cultural backgrounds. This volume brings together interdisciplinary essays by leading,… More

The Language(s) of Civic Invective in Dante: Rhetoric, Satire, and Politics

- Honess, Claire. “The Language(s) of Civic Invective in Dante: Rhetoric, Satire, and Politics.” Italian Studies 68, no. 2 (July 1, 2013): 157–74.
Abstract: This article examines Dante’s use of political invective – and, in particular, of invective against Florence – in both his vernacular and his Latin works. It explores the terminology used by the poet to describe his corrupt city, and suggests… More

Dante and Epicurus: A Dualistic Vision of Secular and Spiritual Fulfilment

- Corbett, George. Dante and Epicurus: A Dualistic Vision of Secular and Spiritual Fulfilment. London: Routledge, 2013.
From the publisher: Dante and Epicurus seem poles apart. Dante, a committed Christian, depicted in the Commedia a vision of the afterlife and Gods divine justice. Epicurus, a pagan philosopher, taught that the soul is mortal and that all religion is vain… More

The Devout Critic: Dante and the Church

- Horne, Brian. “The Devout Critic: Dante and the Church.” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 12, no. 3–4 (2012): 279–92.
Abstract: It is a mistake to read the late medieval poem the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri as though it were a theological tract or a political treatise; but both theology and politics were central to the mind and heart of the great Florentine poet and it… More

Dante in the Long Nineteenth Century: Nationality, Identity, and Appropriation

- Audeh, Aida, and Nick Havely. Dante in the Long Nineteenth Century: Nationality, Identity, and Appropriation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
From the publisher: This collection of essays by an international group of scholars offers an account of Dante’s reception in a wide range of media: visual art, literature, theatre, cinema, and music, from the late eighteenth century through to the… More

T.S. Eliot, Dante, and the Idea of Europe

- Douglass, Paul. T.S. Eliot, Dante, and the Idea of Europe. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2011.
From the publisher: T. S. Eliot’s response to Dante includes aesthetic, philosophical, and religious convictions, his formative influence upon literary modernism’s “classicism,” and his desire to promote European unity. The book’s deals with… More

Dante and Renaissance Florence by Simon Gilson

- Gilson, Simon. Dante and Renaissance Florence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
From the publisher: Simon Gilson explores Dante’s reception in his native Florence between 1350 and 1481. He traces the development of Florentine civic culture and the interconnections between Dante’s principal ‘Florentine’ readers,… More

Dante Alighieri

- Bloom, H, B Foster, and Et Al. Dante Alighieri. Edited by Harold Bloom. Bloom’s Modern Critical Views. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2009.
From the publisher: One of the most learned men of his time in Europe, Dante Alighieri was the consummate literary figure of the Middle Ages. His greatest work, the allegory The Divine Comedy, remains one of the most revered works in classic literature, with… More

Dante’s Two Beloveds: Ethics and Erotics in the Divine Comedy

- Holmes, Olivia. Dante’s Two Beloveds: Ethics and Erotics in the Divine Comedy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
From the publisher: Examining key passages in Dante’s oeuvre in the light of the crucial issue of moral choice, this book provides a new thematic framework for interpreting the Divine Comedy. Olivia Holmes shows how Dante articulated the relationship… More

Dante and the Making of a Modern Author

- Ascoli, Albert Russell. Dante and the Making of a Modern Author. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
From the publisher: Leading scholar Albert Russell Ascoli traces the metamorphosis of Dante Alighieri – minor Florentine aristocrat, political activist and exile, amateur philosopher and theologian, and daring experimental poet – into Dante, author of the… More

Dante: The Poet, the Political Thinker, the Man.

- Reynolds, Barbara. Dante: The Poet, the Political Thinker, the Man. New York: I. B. Tauris, Limited, 2007.
From the publisher: Dante is one of the towering figures of European literature, yet there remain a surprising number of questions about his life and works; Who was the leader that would bring peace to the world, as Virgil and Beatrice prophesied in the… More

The Cambridge Companion to Dante

- Jacoff, R, and Cambridge University Press. The Cambridge Companion to Dante. Cambridge Collections Online. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
From the publisher: This 2007 second edition of The Cambridge Companion to Dante is designed to provide an accessible introduction to Dante for students, teachers and general readers. The volume was fully updated and includes three new essays on Dante’s… More

Dante: A Brief History.

- Hawkins, P S. Dante: A Brief History. Wiley Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006.
From the publisher: For over seven centuries, Dante and his masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, have held a special place in Western culture. The poem is at once a vivid journey through hell to heaven, a poignant love story, and a picture of humanity’s… More

Human Vices and Human Worth in Dante’s Comedy.

- Boyde, Patrick. Human Vices and Human Worth in Dante’s Comedy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
From the publisher: Patrick Boyde brings Dante’s thought and poetry into focus for the modern reader by restoring the Comedy to its intellectual and literary context in 1300. He begins by describing the authorities that Dante acknowledged in the field… More

The Metaphysics of Dante’s Comedy

- Moevs, Christian. The Metaphysics of Dante’s Comedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
From the publisher: Dante’s metaphysics–his understanding of reality–is very different from our own. To present Dante’s ideas about the cosmos, or God, or salvation, or history, or poetry within the context of post-Enlightenment… More

Dante: The Divine Comedy.

- Kirkpatrick, Robin. Dante: The Divine Comedy. Landmarks of World Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
In this accessible critical introduction to Dante’s Divine Comedy Robin Kirkpatrick principally focuses on Dante as a poet and storyteller. He addresses important questions such as Dante’s attitude towards Virgil, and demonstrates how an early… More

Dissent and Philosophy in the Middle Ages by Ernest Fortin

- Fortin, Ernest L. Dissent and Philosophy in the Middle Ages: Dante and His Precursors. Translated by Marc A. Lepain. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2002.
From the publisher: Dissent and Philosophy in the Middle Ages offers scholars of Dante’s Divine Comedy an integral understanding of the political, philosophical, and religious context of the medieval masterwork. First penned in French by Ernest L.… More

Dante: A Life in Works.

- Hollander, R. Dante: A Life in Works. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
From the publisher: The Divine Comedy, completed around 1320, is a supreme work of the imagination None of Dante’s other works, nor even all of his other works taken together, can rival the Comedy. How did the Florentine exile come to create this… More

Dante and Governance

- Woodhouse, John Robert. Dante and Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
From the publisher: essays in this volume, all by leading scholars in the field, explore the concept of governance, both internal and external, in the work of Dante. The essays include an examination of Florence as an example of a city which disrupts all… More

“Dante’s Philosophical Canon (Inferno 4.130-144).”

- Iannucci, Amilcare A. “Dante’s Philosophical Canon (Inferno 4.130-144).” QUADERNI D ITALIANISTICA 18, no. 2 (1997): 251–60.
Excerpt: Philosophically, Dante was influenced by Aristotle more than by any other philosopher. On the one hand, this is hardly surprising given that Dante’s life occurred immediately after and during the j)eriod in which much of the wisdom of ancient… More

“Dante and Politics.”

- Ferrante, Joan M. “Dante and Politics.” In Dante: Contemporary Perspectives, edited by Amilcare A Iannucci, 181. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.
Excerpt: Dante was involved with politics in his life and in his writing. He served in elective and appointive offices, negotiated in person, and harangued by letter; he suffered condemnation and exile from Florence for his positions, and found audiences… More

Dante’s Political Purgatory.

- Scott, John Alfred. Dante’s Political Purgatory. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.
Excerpt: Dante’s Political Purgatory was conceived as a whole in two parts: a political biography of Dante Alighieri followed by a detailed analysis of the political thread that runs throughout his Purgatorio. The first part offers something otherwise… More

The Strangeness of Dante.

- Bloom, H. “The Strangeness of Dante.” In The Western Canon, 76–104. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994.
Excerpt: The new historicists and allied resenters have been attempting to reduce and scatter Shakespeare, aiming to undo the Canon by dissolving its center. Curiously, Dante, the second center as it were, is not under similar onslaught, either here or in… More

Seeds of the Secular State: Dante’s Political Philosophy as Seen in the ‘De Monarchia.’

- Davis, Derek. “Seeds of the Secular State: Dante’s Political Philosophy as Seen in the ‘De Monarchia.’” Journal of Church and State 33, no. 2 (1991): 327–46.
Excerpt: Dante Alighieri is among those rare poets who have profoundly stirred the imaginations of people everywhere since he penned works like The Divine Comedy and Vita Nuoca seven centuries ago. Few people today, however, know Dante as a political… More

Dante’s Griffin and the History of the World: A Study of the Earthly Paradise

- Armour, Peter. Dante’s Griffin and the History of the World: A Study of the Earthly Paradise. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.
From the publisher: From classical and other sources medieval Europeans had inherited belief in the existence of griffins. In the Garden of Eden, on the summit of the mountain of Purgatory, Dante sees one of these creatures drawing a chariot, which it later… More

Dante, Machiavelli, and Rome

- Davis, Charles T. “Dante, Machiavelli, and Rome.” Dante Studies, with the Annual Report of the Dante Society, no. 106 (1988): 43–60.
Excerpt: Dante has been called the most political of great poets, and it is not only in the Monarchia and his letters but also in the Divine Comedy that he lives up to this epithet. Machiavelli is surely the most political of playwrights, and some critics… More

The Political Vision of the Divine Comedy

- Ferrante, J M. The Political Vision of the Divine Comedy. Princeton Legacy Library. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
From the publisher: Joan Ferrante analyzes the Divine Comedy in terms of public issues, which continued foremost in Dante’s thinking after his exile from Florence. Professor Ferrante examines the political concepts of the poem in historical context and… More

“Dante and Politics.”

- Di Scipio, Giuseppe C. “Dante and Politics.” In The Divine Comedy and the Encyclopedia of Arts and Sciences, 267–84. New York: John Benjamin Publishing Company, 1983.
Excerpt: To speak of Dante and Politics is an extremely arduous task for this topic has attracted the attention of the most eminent scholars. Barbi, Barraglia, Cosmo, Davis, d’Entrèves, Ercole, Gilson, Hollander, Kantorowiecz, Kay, Maccarrone,… More

Dante Philomythes and Philosopher: Man in the Cosmos.

- Boyde, Patrick. Dante Philomythes and Philosopher: Man in the Cosmos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
From the publisher: This book is devoted to a full and lucid exposition of Boyde’s ideas. In the first two parts, the author presents a systematic account of the universe as Dante accepted it, and explains the processes of ‘creation’ and… More

Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch

- Larner, John. Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch, 1216-1380. Lhi Series. New York: Longman, 1980.
From the publisher: John Larner examines all the major developments across the Italian peninsula in the period that saw the rise of Florence and Venice, the development of a commercial empire by Italian towns which stretched from England to China, as well as… More

Dante

- Holmes, George. Dante. Oxford Paperbacks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
From the publisher: Describes the events that shaped Dante’s life and the ideas that shaped his poetry, including courtly love, the conflict between Church and state, and divine influence in human lives.

The World of Dante: Essays on Dante and His Times.

- Grayson, Cecil. The World of Dante: Essays on Dante and His Times. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980.
This collection of essays includes contributions by Jeremy Catto, Marjorie Reeves, Alan Robson, and Cecil Grayson among others.

Dante the Maker

- Anderson, W. Dante the Maker. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980.
From the publisher: Dante has been called “the central man of all the world” because he represents in perfect balance “the imaginative, moral, and intellectual faculties all at their highest.” In his Divine Comedy Dante introduced a… More

“Bertran de Born and Sordello: The Poetry of Politics in Dante’s Comedy.”

- Barolini, Teodolinda. “Bertran de Born and Sordello: The Poetry of Politics in Dante’s Comedy.” PMLA 94, no. 3 (1979): 395–405.
Excerpt: The stature Dante grants Sordello in the Comedy has long puzzled critics, since it seems greater than warranted by the achievements of this ProvenCalpoet. Not only does the meeting with Sordello, in the sixth canto of the Purgatorio, serve as the… More

The Two Dantes, and Other Studies.

- Foster, Kenelm. The Two Dantes, and Other Studies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.
From the publisher: A collection of essays by prominent Dante scholar Kenelm Foster written between 1959 and 1977. The essays deal with general topics, readings of specific cantos, and a long essay dealing with the philosophical and theological assumptions… More

“Politics in the Age of Dante.”

- Hyde, J K. “Politics in the Age of Dante.” In Society and Politics in Medieval Italy: The Evolution of the Civil Life, 1000–1350, edited by J K Hyde, 124–52. London: Macmillan Education UK, 1973.
Abstract: Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265 and died at Ravenna in 1321. The greatest poet not only of communal Italy but of the whole of the Middle Ages, his lifetime is generally considered to have coincided with the golden age of the Italian… More

“The Celebration of Order: Paradiso X.”

- Foster, Kenelm. “The Celebration of Order: Paradiso X.” Dante Studies, with the Annual Report of the Dante Society 90, no. 90 (1972): 109–24.
Excerpt: Let me begin with the concept of beauty, which the old philosophers defined in terms of three properties: wholeness (integritas), due proportion, and a certain “clarity” or radiance.1 And that was how Dante thought of beauty, but it is… More

“Lady Philosophy in Boethius and Dante.”

- Gualtieri, Angelo. “Lady Philosophy in Boethius and Dante.” Comparative Literature 23, no. 2 (1971): 141–50.
Excerpt: Dante’s admiration for Boethius is unquestionable. The mere flattering reference to him in the Paradiso would be suffi- cient proof of this fact: Per vedere ogni ben dentro vi gode l’anima santa che’l mondo fallace fa manifesto a… More

“Dante’s Political Thought.”

- Limentani, U. “Dante’s Political Thought.” In The Mind of Dante, edited by U. Limentani, 113–37. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.
Professor Limentani’s discussion of Dante’s political thought in an edited collection.

“Religion and Philosophy in Dante.”

- Foster, Kenelm. “Religion and Philosophy in Dante.” In The Mind of Dante, edited by U. Limentani, 47–78. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.
Excerpt: We commonly think of Dante as both a religious and a philosophical poet; and, so doing, we commonly assume that there is a difference of some kind between poetry on the one hand and religion and philosophy on the other; we imply that to be a poet is… More

“Dante and the Idea of Rome.”

- Davis, Charles Till. “Dante and the Idea of Rome.” Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957.
Till’s careful study of Dante expands upon and confirms Gilson’s analysis of Dante as primarily a Christian poet. This book focuses on the poet’s vision of concrete history more than abstract ideas. While Dante’s thought is heterodox in many senses,… More

Dante as a Political Thinker.

- d’Entrèves, Alessandro Passerin. Dante as a Political Thinker. Cambridge: Clarendon Press, 1952.
Alessandro Passerin d’Entrèves seminal analysis of Dante as a political thinker.

Dante the Philosopher

- Gilson, Étienne. Dante the Philosopher. London: Sheed and Ward, 1948.
Gilson’s eminent study of Dante’s philosophy is a classic of Dante studies. Gilson presents DAnte as ultimately a Catholic, though in his own way. Originally written in French, the book was translated into English in 1948.

“Dante’s and Machiavelli’s Theories of Government: A Comparison.”

- Coughlin Ebener, Rose. “Dante’s and Machiavelli’s Theories of Government: A Comparison.” Historian 10, no. 1 (May 9, 1947): 63–77.
Abstract: The political theories of Dante Alighieri and Niccolo Machiavelli illustrate the transformation from medieval to modern thought. In several respects the careers and philosophies of these two men show striking similarity. Although separated by two… More

“Had Dante Read the Politics of Aristotle?”

- Gilbert, Allan H. “Had Dante Read the Politics of Aristotle?” PMLA 43, no. 3 (1928): 602–13.
Excerpt: In his prose writings Dante refers to the Politics of Aristotle in such a way as to make natural the assumption that he was well-acquainted with the work.’ Further examination, however, suggests that this opinion has but a slight foundation; in… More

“Dante.”

- Eliot, Thomas Stearns. “Dante.” In The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1921.
T.S. Eliot’s famous essay on Dante Alighieri.

“The Philosophy of Dante.”

- Lafferty, Roger Theodore. “The Philosophy of Dante.” Annual Reports of the Dante Society, no. 30 (1911): 1–34.
Excerpt: More than any other poet Dante was a philosopher. It is impossible to understand his work as a whole, and especially the Divine Comedy \ unless it is studied as philosophy. While it is of supreme aesthetic in- terest, holding the attention of the… More