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 new way of presenting human characters which was permanently influenced all later forms of narrative and drama. This work not only affected history directly but offered people of all generations a new ideal to which they should aspire. Dante invented modern literature by making contemporary characters and events the subject of art: he changed the future by his reinterpretation of the past. William Anderson’s exciting and original biography (winner of the Silver Pen International PEN Club) makes extensive use, for the first time, of Dante’s own descriptions of his creative process, his inspirations and the ways in which he interpreted them. Though likely to be invaluable to the student of Italian literature and to the innumerable lovers of Dante, the book will also, by its emphasis on the creative act, fascinate everyone who is interested in the sources of art.

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