Table of Contents

Preface; Chronology; 1. Life of Dante Giuseppe Mazzotta; 2. Dante and the lyric past Teodolina Barolini; 3. Approaching the Vita nuova Robert Pogue Harrison; 4. From auctor to author: Dante before the Commedia Albert Russell Ascoli; 5. Introduction to Inferno Lino Pertile; 6. Introduction to Purgatorio Jeffrey T. Schnapp; 7. 'Shadowy prefaces': introduction to Paradiso Rachel Jacoff; 8. Dante and the Bible Peter S. Hawkins; 9. Dante and the classical poets Kevin Brownlee; 10. Allegory and autobiography John Freccero; 11. A poetics of chaos and harmony Joan Ferrante; 12. The theology of the Commedia A. N. Williams; 13. The poetry and poetics of the creation Piero Boitani; 14. Dante and Florence John M. Najemy; 15. Dante and the empire Charles Till Davis; 16. Dante and his commentators Robert Hollander; 17. Dante in English David Wallace; Further reading.

Promotional Information

A fully updated 2007 edition of this useful and accessible coursebook on Dante's works, context and reception history.

About the Author

Rachel Jacoff is Margaret Deffenbaugh and LeRoy Carlson Professor of Comparative Literature and Italian Studies at Wellesley College.