This bibliography is intended to include all the Dante translations published in this country in 1986 and all Dante studies and reviews published in 1986 that are in any sense American. The latter criterion is construed to include foreign reviews of American publications pertaining to Dante. The listing of reviews in general is selective, particularly in the case of studies bearing only peripherally on Dante.
Items cited from Dissertation Abstracts International are generally registered without further abstracting, since the titles tend to be self-explanatory. Items not recorded in the bibliographies for previous years are entered as addenda to the present list.
Generally, the citation of an individual study from a collected volume representing several authors is given in brief, while the main entry of the volume is listed with full bibliographical data in its alphabetical order. Issues of this journal under the former title Annual Report of the Dante Society continue to be cited in the short form of Report, with volume number.
For their invaluable assistance in the preparation of this bibliography
and its annotations my special thanks go to the following graduate
students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: Tonia Bernardi,
Adriano Comollo, Tim Droster, Scott Eagleburger, Edward Hagman,
Pauline Scott, Antonio Scuderi, Elizabeth Serrin, Robert Sullivan,
and Scott Troyan.
The Divine Comedy. Vol. III: Paradise. Translated with an introduction, notes, and commentary by Mark Musa. Harmondsworth and New York: Penguin Books. xxx, 433 pp. (Penguin Classics.) [1986]
This translation, originally published as Dante's Paradise
in 1984 by the Indiana University Press (see Dante Studies,
CIII, 140), is here reprinted with the addition of an "Introduction
to the Paradise" and a "Glossary and Index of
Persons and Places."
Abrams, Richard. "Against the Contrapasso: Dante's Heretics, Schismatics and Others." In Italian Quarterly, XXVII, No. 105 (Summer), 5-19. [1986]
Proposes a reading of the "contrapasso" which looks
beyond the sense of the Aristotelian-Thomistic principle of divine
retribution, and finds a rationale for suffering in the pathology
of sin. Focusing primarily on the heretics and the schismatics
(while touching upon other groups, including some in Purgatorio),
Abrams argues that Dante offers clues which suggest that the "contrapasso"
ultimately derives from the innermost yearning of the sinner.
Thus, the "divina vendetta" remains a fiction in the
minds of the damned.
Alexander, David. "Dante and the Form of the Land." In Annals of the Association of American Geographers, LXXVI, No. 1 (March), 38-49. [1986]
Approaches Dante's De situ et figura...aque videlicet et terre
in terms of its position in the history of physical geography,
and considers the historical period of its composition as a link
between the natural philosophy of the classical period and the
beginnings of empirical methodology. Considers Dante's sources
and his synthesis and argumentation in light of the works of other
natural philosophers, notably Avicenna, Jean Buridan and Ristoro
d'Arezzo.
Arbery, Glenn C. "Antica Lupa: Dante, Virgil, and the Discontinuity of Allegory." In American Benedictine Review, XXXVII, No. 2 (June), 173-196. [1986]
One of the most significant and fearful images confronting Dante
the Pilgrim is that of the lupa, who appears at three major
moments of discontinuity in the Commedia: Virgil's appearance
in Inferno I, the release of Statius in Purgatorio
XX, and Virgil's departure in Purgatorio XXX. Because of
the complex mixture of Biblical and classical associations, the
lupa is an ambiguous sign, yet one that must be interpreted.
Hence, the pilgrim must use allegory as he passes through these
regions of discontinuity, while at the same time he moves toward
a recognition of Virgil's importance.
Auerbach, Erich. "Figural Art in the Middle Ages"
(1959). Reprinted in Dante (q.v.), pp. 21-31.
[1986]
Auerbach, Erich. "St. Francis of Assisi in Dante's
Commedia" (1959). Reprinted in Dante (q.v.),
pp. 33-45. [1986]
Barkan, Leonard. The Gods Made Flesh: Metamorphosis and the Pursuit of Paganism. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. xvi, 398 p. [1986]
One chapter (the fourth, pp. 137-170) focuses on the many uses
and variations of metamorphosis by Dante, the Christian, as compared
to classical and pagan representations of the same theme. Discusses
the contagious nature of metamorphosis (as well as the contagious
nature of sin itself) and how the metamorphosis of human into
beast ultimately degrades God through degradation of the imago
dei. "Only a great Christian poet could use the doctrine
of man conceived in the image of God to join the lore of metamorphoses
with the whole analogical world view. Because the Commedia
is at once a Christian vision and a revision of pagan antiquity,
it can bring about a new syncretic vision of metamorphosis."
Contents: 1. Tapestry Figures; 2. Ovid and Metamorphosis;
3. Metamorphosis in the Middle Ages; 4. Taccia Ovidio:
Metamorphosis, Poetics, and Meaning in Dante's Inferno;
5. Metamorphosis, Paganism, and the Renaissance Imagination; 6.
Shakespeare and the Metamorphosis of Art and Life; Notes; Illustrations;
Index.
Barolini, Teodolinda. "Autocitation and Autobiography"
(1984). Reprinted in Dante (q.v.), pp. 167-177.
[1986]
Battenhouse, Roy. "Augustinian Roots in Shakespeare's Sense of Tragedy." In The Upstart Crow, VI, 1-7. [1986]
Treats the combined influence of St. Augustine and Dante on Shakespeare.
Beal, Rebecca. "Dante among Thieves: Allegorical Soteriology in the Seventh Bolgia (Inferno XXIV and XXV)." In Medievalia, IX (1986 for 1983), 101-123. [1986]
Examines the episode of the thieves as an infernal "parody
of orthodox doctrine concerning man's redemption," by which
the eternal damnation of these sinners is constantly reinforced.
The rich analysis includes consideration of the many biblical
and Christological elements present in the text which, when seen
within the context of patristic exegesis, help to focus attention
on the soteriological parody.
Bertran de Born. The Poetry of the Troubadour Bertran de Born. Edited by William D. Paden, Jr., Tilde Sankovitch, and Patricia H. Stäblein. Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: The University of California Press. xxi, 573 p. [1986]
This critical edition and English translation of the poetry of
Bertran de Born contains a short section on Dante's references
to him in De vulgari eloquentia and Convivio and
on his presence as a character in the Inferno.
Blomme, Raoul. "Les Troubadours dans la Divine Comédie: Un problème d'onomastique poétique." In Studia Occitanica in Memoriam Paul Remy. Vol. I: The Troubadours, edited by Hans-Erich Keller with the collaboration of Jean-Marie D'Heur, Guy R. Mermier, and Marc Vuijlsteke (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University), pp. 21-30 [1986]
Examines the notion of medieval onomastics with regard to the
names of the troubadours in the Comedy and discusses how
the significance of their names is integrated in the fabric of
the poem as a whole. Dante refers to a total of ten different
troubadours in his corpus of works, six in the Divine Comedy
alone, three of whom represent different genres of troubadour
poetry. Since these troubadours present themselves to Dante the
pilgrim in the way they name themselves, he fails to grasp the
importance of the statement which Dante the author attributes
to the giving or pronouncing of a proper name and its relationship
to the poetry itself.
Bloom, Harold, editor, Dante (q.v.).
Boccaccio, Giovanni. Amorosa Visione. Bilingual
edition, translated by Robert Hollander, Timothy Hampton, Margherita
Frankel, with an introduction by Vittore Branca. Hanover and London:
University Press of New England. xxix, 255 p. Contains many references
to Dante. [1986]
Boyle, Robert, S.J. "Hopkins, Brutus, and Dante." In Victorian Poetry, XXIV, No. 1 (Spring), 1-12. [1986]
Treatment of religious imagery in Dante and in Gerard Manley Hopkins'
"The Windhover."
Brown, Emerson, Jr. "Epicurean Secularism in Dante and Boccaccio: Athenian Roots and Florentine Revival." In Magister Regis...(q.v.), pp. 179-193. [1986]
After an introduction on the general tenets of Epicurism the author
traces the tradition of Epicurism up to the Middle Ages. Surprisingly,
Dante considers Epicurism as a symbol of heresy even though its
materialism is rejected by all the heretical movements of his
time. Frederick II fits in well there because he was commonly
considered an Epicurean. The case of Guido Cavalcanti is more
problematic, but two considerations support this: his canzone
"Donna me prega" is certainly Averroistic, and Boccaccio
depicts him as an unbeliever in his tale of Betto Brunelleschi
(Dec. VI, 9).
Brownlee, Kevin. "Ovid's Semele and Dante's Metamorphosis: Paradiso XXI-XXIII." In Modern Language Notes, CI, No. 1 (January), 147-156. [1986]
Contrasts the disastrous Ovidian "metamorphosis" of
Semele with the tempered Christian transfiguration of Dante. The
Pilgrim's gradual adjustment to the intensity of the divine presences
suggests an ultimate, successful union of human and divine, the
intervention of Christ being the determining (and tempering) factor.
Hence, in a series of six references in these three cantos, Dante
rewrites the Semele myth in a Christian key, in which the divine
presence serves to strengthen the faithful pilgrim; in the Ovidian
counterpart, the mortal is destroyed by the presence of the divine.
Bufano, Luca. "Nota sulla posizione e il significato di San Francesco nel Paradiso." In Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 265-277. [1986]
The meeting between the pilgrim and San Francesco in the heaven
of the Sun breaks with the usual technique of the Comedy
by introducing the Saint indirectly, through the eulogy of Saint
Thomas. Bufano attributes the indirectness of this encounter to
the exceptionally high beatitude of the Saint and to the gradual
loss of individuality of the characters of the Comedy.
In the Empyrean, the pilgrim sees Francesco once again, in a privileged
position in the Rose. Bufano concludes that Francesco is so highly
regarded in the Comedy because his greatest virtue--Poverty--most
closely associates him, above all other saints, with Christ.
Carruthers, Mary J. "Italy, Ars Memorativa, and Fame's House." In Studies in the Age of Chaucer: Proceedings, II, 179-188. [1986]
A brief summary of a revival of interest in mnemonics in the Middle
Ages is followed by a more detailed examination of the "architectural
mnemonic" as it might apply to the sculptured wall of marble
that illustrates humility in Purgatory X. Chaucer's palace
of Fame is then considered in light of this mnemonic strategy.
Cavalcanti, Guido. The Poetry of Guido Cavalcanti. Edited and translated by Lowry Nelson, Jr. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc. lxiii, 128 p. illus. (The Garland Library of Medieval Literature, Series A, 18.) [1986]
Contents: Introduction (Life of the Author, Influence and
Reputation, Literary Achievement, Prefatory Note to "Donna
me prega", Editorial Policy for This Text and Translation);
Select Bibliography; The Poetry of Guido Cavalcanti; Textual and
Explanatory Notes; Index of First Lines. Many references to Dante.
Cervigni, Dino S. Dante's Poetry of Dreams. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki. 228 p. (Biblioteca dell'"Archivum Romanicum," ser. I, vol. 198.) [1986]
A systematic and thorough account of ancient and medieval views
of oneiric experience and a balanced, synthetic presentation of
Dante's incorporation of that tradition in the composition of
the Vita Nuova and the Divine Comedy (especially
the Purgatory). Contents: Introduction; 1. Tradition
and Innovation; 2. Visionary Structure and Significance in the
Vita Nuova; 3. The Dream of the Eagle; 4. "Nel mezzo
del cammin": Demonic Interference and Divine Intervention
in the Second Dream; 5. The Dream of Leah and the Pilgrim's Sleep
in the Earthly Paradise; 6. Dante's Poetry of Dreams; Selected
Bibliography; Index. Previously published essays are duly indicated
as being incorporated in part, variously revised, in chapters
2-4 and 6 (for the latter, see Dante Studies, CII, 171).
"Charles Southward Singleton." In Speculum, LXI, No. 3 (July), 765-767. [1986]
A memoir of the distinguished American Dantista, who died
on October 11, 1985, recorded by Donald R. Howard, Robert E. Kaske,
and Joan M. Ferrante for the Fellows of the Medieval Academy of
America.
Chiarenza, Marguerite Mills. "The Imageless Vision
and Dante's Paradiso" (1972). Reprinted in Dante
(q.v.), pp. 83-95. [1986]
Chmaitelli, Nancy Adelyne. "The Theme of Synagogue,
Eccelsia, and the Whore of Babylon in the Visual Arts and in the
Poetry of Dante and Chaucer: A Background Study for Chaucer's
Wife of Bath." In Dissertation Abstracts International,
XLVII, No. 5 (November), 1722A-1723A. Doctoral Dissertation, Rice
University, 1986. 390 p. [1986]
Clark, Peter Y. "Bells Chiming the Eleventh Hour: Dante Alighieri's Inferno and Three Processes of Civilization." In Christianity & Literature, XXXV, No. 2 (Winter), 5-15. [1986]
Discusses Dante's relationship to Florentine politics, classical
antiquity, and the Christian faith. These three "influences
on Dante's life led directly...to three vital processes of civilization:
his acquaintance with and involvement in Florentine politics provided
historical analysis; his proficiency in things classical later
allowed him to challenge their merit in dynamic human effort;
and his dependence on Christianity lent him a sense of permanence."
Comens, Bruce. "Stages of Love, Steps to Hell: Dante's Rime Petrose." In Modern Language Notes, CI, No. 1 (January), 157-188. [1986]
The importance of Dante's rime petrose lies in the interrelation
of their form and content. A study of the poems considering the
details of their interpretation, the structure of each poem and
the general structure of the poems together demonstrates an adherence
to the four stages of the development of sensual love established
by Richard of Saint Victor in his De quatuor gradibus violentae
caritatis. The rime petrose should be considered Dante's
first attempt at formulating a sustained critique of a specific
aspect of love.
Corman, Catherine Talmage. "'Whereas a Man May Have Noon Audience, Noght Helpeth It to Tellen His Sentence': Rhetorical Process in Chaucer's Poetry." In Dissertation Abstracts International, XLVII, No. 1 (July), 173A. [1986]
Doctoral Dissertation, University of California-Los Angeles, 1985,
137 p. (Considers rhetoric as "a process defined by the interaction
between a speaker, his words..., and the audience." Examines
similarities between "Chaucer's manipulation of response
in three of his dream poems (The Book of the Duchess, House
of Fame, Parliament of Fowls) and that of Dante in
the Commedia.")
Costa, Gustavo. "Spigolature dantesche." In Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November), 215-226. [1986]
An omnibus review essay on the following volumes: Dante Studies,
Volume I: Dante in the Twentieth Century, ed. Adolph Caso;
James Thomas Chiampi, Shadowy Prefaces: Conversion and Writing
in the "Divine Comedy"; Dennis Costa, Irenic
Apocalypse: Some Uses of Apocalyptic in Dante, Petrarch and Rabelais;
Cambridge Readings in Dante's "Comedy", ed. Kenelm
Foster and Patrick Boyde; Jerome Mazzaro, The Figure of Dante:
An Essay on the "Vita Nuova"; Dante's "Purgatory",
tr. Mark Musa; Shirley J. Paolini, Confessions of Sin and Love
in the Middle Ages: Dante's "Commedia" and St. Augustine's
"Confessions"; Ugo Foscolo, Studi su Dante, Parte
II: Commedia di Dante Alighieri, ed. Giorgio Petrocchi; Earl
Jeffrey Richards, Dante and the "Roman de la Rose:"
An Investigation into the Vernacular Narrative Context of the
"Commedia"; Approaches to Teaching Dante's "Divine
Comedy", ed. Carole Slade; and Dante in Hell: The
"De Vulgari Eloquentia," Introduction, Text, Translation,
and Commentary by Warman Welliver, all separately listed in full
below, under Reviews.
Cowles, David L. "A Profane Tragedy: Dante in Hawthorne's 'Rappaccini's Daughter'." In American Transcendental Quarterly, LX (June), 5-24. [1986]
Hawthorne appropriates Dante's cosmological design in "Rappaccini's
Daughter" and adapts it to his story by conflating the three
tiers of Dante's universe into Rappaccini's garden. Hawthorne
exploits Dante's ready-made set of symbols that detail the range
of human potential, while adding support to the story's classical
themes.
Crone, Anna Lisa. "Woods and Trees: Mandel'shtam's Use of Dante's Inferno in 'Preserve My Speech'." In Studies in Russian Literature in Honor of Vsevolod Setchkarev, edited by Julian W. Connolly and Sonia I. Ketchian (Columbus: Slavica), pp. 87-101. [1986]
Briefly sketches the affinity between Mandel'shtam and Dante and
discusses the shaping influence of two episodes--the wood of the
suicides and Brunetto Latini--on Mandel'shtam's poetry.
Dante. Edited with an introduction by Harold Bloom. New York-New Haven-Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers. x, 216 p. (Modern Critical Views.) [1986]
Contains, with one exception, previously published essays on Dante
by Charles S. Singleton, Erich Auerbach, R. E. Kaske, Francis
X. Newman, Marguerite Mills Chiarenza, John Freccero, Robert M.
Durling, David Quint, Susan Noakes, Teodolinda Barolini, Kenneth
Gross, and Giuseppe Mazzotta. The essays are listed individually
by author. Introduction; Chronology; Contributors; Bibliography;
Acknowledgments; Index.
Davidson, Pamela. "Vyacheslav Ivanov and Dante." In Vyacheslav Ivanov: Poet, Critic and Philosopher, edited by Robert Louis Jackson and Lowry Nelson, Jr. (New Haven: Yale Center for International and Area Studies), pp. 147-161. (Yale Russian and East European Pubs., 8.) [1986]
Treats Dante's influence on the Russian Symbolist writer Vyacheslav
Ivanov in his creative works, in his critical studies, in his
college teaching, and in his translation of the Comedy.
Davidson, Sylvie. "Borges and Italian Literature." In Italian Quarterly, XXVII, No. 105 (Summer), 43-49. [1986]
Treats Borges' discovery and appreciation of Dante's Divine
Comedy with specific concentration on the influenced exerted
on his own works by the episodes of Francesca and Ulysses.
Davis, Charles T. "Dante, the Judge of the Secular World." In Medievalia et Humanistica: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Culture, XIV, 207-219. [1986]
A review essay on the following volumes: Anthony K. Cassell, Dante's
Fearful Art of Justice; Joan M. Ferrante, The Political
Vision of the "Divine Comedy"; and Teodolinda Barolini,
Dante's Poets: Textuality and Truth in the "Comedy",
all separately listed in full below, under Reviews.
De Gennaro, Angelo A. The Reader's Companion to Dante's "Divine Comedy". Foreword by Giovanni Gullace. New York: Philosophical Library. 128 p. [1986]
A brief overview in 22 chapters of the Divine Comedy. Contents:
Foreword; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Beatrice. The Vestibule
of Hell. Limbo; 3. Hell. Francesca and Paolo. Ciacco; 4. The Hoarders.
Filippo Argenti. Farinata; 5. The Division of Hell. Pier della
Vigna; 6. Brunetto Latini. Geryon. Seducers; 7. Simoniacs. Fortune
Tellers. Hypocrites; 8. Thieves. Ulysses. Falsifiers; 9. Ugolino.
Satan; 10. Cato. Manfred; 11. Belacqua. Buonconte. Sordello; 12.
The Angel Guardian. The Envious; 13. Visions. Marco Lombardo.
The Siren; 14. Hoarders and Wasters. Statius. The Gluttons; 15.
Bonagiunta. Guinizelli. Leah and Rachel; 16. Virgil. Matilda.
Beatrice; 17. Introduction to Paradiso; 18. Piccarda. Justinian;
19. St. Francis. St. Dominic. Cacciaguida; 20. The Eagle. The
Virgin Mary; 21. The Apostles. Beatrice; 22. The Mystic Rose.
St. Bernard; Notes.
Della Terza, Dante. "Charles S. Singleton: An Appraisal." In Dante Studies, CIV, 9-25. [1986]
An account of the scholarly accomplishments of Charles S. Singleton
and his impact on American Dante criticism.
Di Cesare, Mario A. "Cristoforo Landino on the Name and Nature of Poetry." In Chaucer Review, XXI, No. 2, 155-181. [1986]
Contains brief references to Dante in the general discussion of
the nature of poetry as found in the Disputationes Camaldulenses.
Durling, Robert M. "Seneca, Plato, and the Microcosm"
(1975). Reprinted in Dante (q.v.), pp. 113-131.
[1986]
Ferrante, Joan M. "Good Thieves and Bad Thieves: A Reading of Inferno XXIV." In Dante Studies, CIV, 83-98. [1986]
A thorough and engaging lectura of Inferno XXIV
with particular attention given to Dante's borrowings--his "thefts"--from
Classical poets, which, unlike the fraudulent practices of the
thieves, "far from impoverishing or threatening the stability
of his society, increase its cultural wealth and contribute towards
its greater stability."
Fido, Franco. "Writing Like God--or Better? Symmetries in Dante's 26th and 27th Cantos." In Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 250-264. [1986]
Intertextual analysis of Cantos XXVI and XXVII with regard to
three main themes: the significance of the series of words fuoco--ardere--mordere,
the transgression of limits, and the intertwining of flight and
folly throughout the Divine Comedy. With this in mind,
Fido relates Inferno XXVI to the Convivio for its
concern with individual nobility, Purgatory XXVI to De
vulgari eloquentia underscoring their theme of poetic excellence,
and Paradiso XXVII to De monarchia inasmuch as both
highlight the Poet's longing for a reformation of humankind. Concludes
that the web of thematic, structural, and verbal symmetries in
the three canticles of the Divine Comedy is just beginning
to be understood by critics, and that it serves to deepen our
knowledge of Dante's concepts and can be a delight for "those
who believe in the problematic, referential, historical nature
of literature."
Field, Arthur. "Cristoforo Landino's First Lectures on Dante." In Renaissance Quarterly, XXXIX, No. 1 (Spring), 16-48. [1986]
Examines the problem of Landino's early approach to Dante and
uses this as a means of determining the probable dates of his
first lectures. Field admits that, barring new documentary evidence,
no absolute conclusion can be drawn; however, given current evidence,
the early 1460s appear to the most likely date.
Fleming, John V. "Deiphoebus Betrayed: Virgilian Decorum, Chaucerian Feminism." In Chaucer Review, XXI, No. 2, 182-199. [1986]
Considers Chaucer's view of women in Troilus and Criseyde
with a passing reference to Dante (Inf. XVIII, 66): "This
last line--'We usen here no wommen for to selle'--remade from
a devastating context in Dante's Inferno, must have for
readers, and especially for women readers, a chilling irony."
Fleming, Ray. "'Sublime and Pure Thoughts, Without Transgression': The Dantean Influence in Milton's 'Donna leggiadra'." In Milton Quarterly, XX, No. 2 (May), 38-44. [1986]
Argues that Milton's sonnet of praise, "Donna leggiadra,"
was modelled more on Dante and the Dolce Stil Nuovo than on Petrarch
and the petrarchisti, and this would explain its difference
in tone and content from his other Italian poems. Discusses the
general influence on Milton exerted by Dante and the Italian literary
tradition through the Renaissance.
Franceschetti, Antonio. "La Difesa della Comedia di Dante di Iacopo Mazzoni." In Quaderni d'Italianistica, VII, No. 1 (Primavera), 76-81. [1986]
The author expresses his appreciation for this new edition of
a valuable but largely unknown book. On the other hand, he complains
that in their preface the editors (Enrico Musacchio and Gigino
Pellegrino) consider Mazzoni's position not so much in its contemporary
context (Renaissance and Baroque) but in relation to Crocean aesthetics.
Although important, this new edition is incomplete, lacking the
second part of the Difesa, which was published in 1688,
about a century after Mazzoni's death.
Frankel, Margherita. "The Context of Dante's Ulysses: The Similes in Inferno XXVI, 25-42." In Dante Studies, CIV, 99-119. [1986]
Integrates the similes of the villano and Elijah in Inferno
XXVI with the episode of Ulysses and, lexically, with other key
episodes in the poem. Examines, in particular, the meaning and
connotative value of words such as valle and poggio.
The villano in the first simile is "the figure of
a saved man," thus contrasting with Ulysses. On the other
hand, Elisha ("colui che si vengiò con li orsi,"
Inf. XXVI, 34) in the second simile appears in a very negative
light, for, although he was a prophet, his lack of self-control,
arrogance, and immoderate nature liken him to the figure of Ulysses.
Freccero, John. Dante: The Poetics of Conversion.
Edited with an introduction by Rachel Jacoff. Cambridge and London:
Harvard University Press. xvi, 328 p. Conveniently gathers together
the following essays, reprinted from various sources. Contents:
1. The Prologue Scene; 2. The Firm Foot on a Journey Without a
Guide; 3. The River of Death: Inferno II, 108; 4. Pilgrim
in a Gyre; 5. Infernal Irony: The Gates of Hell; 6. The Neutral
Angels; 7. Medusa: The Letter and the Spirit; 8. Dante's Ulysses:
From Epic to Novel; 9. Bestial Sign and Bread of Angels: Inferno
XXXII and XXXIII; 10. The Sign of Satan; 11. Infernal Inversion
and Christian Conversion: Inferno XXXIV; 12. Casella's
Song: Purgatorio II, 112; 13. Manfred's Wounds and the
Poetics of the Purgatorio; 14. An Introduction to the Paradiso;
15. The Dance of the Stars: Paradiso X; 16. The Final Image:
Paradiso XXXIII, 144; 17. The Significance of Terza
Rima; Notes; Sources; Indexes. There is a general introduction
by Rachel Jacoff. The facts of original publication of the essays
are duly indicated in a list of Sources. [1986]
Freccero, John. "Manfred's Wounds and the Poetics
of the Purgatorio" (1983). Reprinted in Dante
(q.v.), pp. 139-150. [1986]
Freccero, John. "Medusa: The Letter and the Spirit"
(1972). Reprinted in Dante (q.v.), pp. 97-111.
[1986]
Garber, Klaus. "Die Friedens-Utopie im europäischen
Humanismus: Versuch einer geschichtlichen Rekonstruktion."
In Modern Language Notes, CI, No. 3 (April), 516-552. [1986]
Sketches the historical development of the idea of universal humanity, upon which both the peace movement and the strategy of deterrence have based their arguments. In the period of early humanism the idea of a peaceful utopia was first set forth by Dante in De Monarchia. This ideal is theoretical, however, and not concerned with the establishment of institutions. The final section of this treatise should be seen simply as a conventional 'address of homage' to the spiritual power, for Dante "knew that he had to hide a revolutionary thought in a protective covering (which was supplied by allegory in the Commedia)...." Just as he begins in De vulgari eloquentia with the universal (i.e., Latin) and ends with the particular (i.e., the vulgar tongues), so in De monarchia, Dante begins with the universal emperor and ends with the imperium romanum. Through the use of historical arguments, especially from Virgil, he proves that ancient Rome and its future "repristination" represent the purest incarnation of the rule of peace. He assumed a priori that the spiritual and temporal realms are separate yet equal. But his thesis is open to empirical-- i.e. historical--influences, and by rejecting the claims to power of the Germans and the popes, he allowed "a new national mythology" to develop "centering on the ancient Roman ideal of virtus."
Dante's support of Augustan classicism led to his acceptance of the Virgilian ideal of the close relationship between emperor and poet. It also led to a reevaluation of poetic genres by its recognition of the pastoral and the bucolic alongside of the epic. Indeed, the former two, and especially the pastoral, soon came to be seen as the poetic vehicles par excellence for the expression a political ideal in their portrayal of peaceful coexistence between man and man and man and nature and in their invocation of an aetas aurea. Thus, a line may be drawn from Dante to Petrarch's espousal of Rienzo in his pastoral poems.
The ideals of the early humanists found an echo in the universalism
of Erasmus and his followers who sought peace through the unification
of warring parties. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries, European humanists further emphasized the division
of the spiritual and earthly realms which Dante had advocated.
In the face of the confessional strife, however, they replaced
the idea of a universal monarch with that of a neutral and benign
nation-state. As the national monarchies developed this originally
progressive idea was distorted by the absolutistic states. The
idea of universal peace, however, was handed down to the Enlightenment
as can be seen in such authors as Kant and Herder.
Groos, Arthur, editor, Magister Regis...(q.
v.). [1986]
Gross, Kenneth. "Infernal Metamorphoses: An Interpretation
of Dante's 'Counterpass'" (1985). Reprinted in Dante
(q.v.), pp. 179-188. [1986]
Hart, Thomas Elwood. "Architecture and Text: The Florentine Baptistery in Dante's Commedia." In Res Publica Litterarum, IX, 155-174. [1986]
Dante appears to have incorporated the mathematical proportions
of architecture into the dimensions of his poem. In his praise
of the Florentine Baptistery (Inf. XIX, 10-17), a mathematical
principle seems to be at work, for it can be shown that the numerical
coordinates of this passage (relative to the beginning and end
of the poem's 14233 lines) reflects quite precisely a notable
feature of the Baptistery's symbolic geometry, namely the ratio
apothem/side as found in a regular octagon. The placement of the
allusions to the same Baptistery in Paradiso XV, 134-135
and Paradiso XVI, 46-48 also seems to reflect the same
octagonal proportionality.
Heninger, S. K., Jr. "Sequences, Systems, Models: Sidney and the Secularization of Sonnets." In Poems in Their Place: The Intertextuality and Order of Poetic Collections, edited by Neil Fraistat (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press), pp. 66-94. [1986]
Treats Dante's Vita Nuova as the first in the long line
of ordered collections of poetry and sonnet sequences, which extends
through the Renaissance. Just as "Dante and Beatrice...became
the prototypes of the poet/lover and his lady," so the "Vita
Nuova was seen as the fons et origo of the genre."
Compares the Vita Nuova with Petrarch's Canzoniere.
Hollander, Robert. "Boccaccio's Dante." In Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 278-289. [1986]
No one would ever seriously challenge the notion that the "older"
Boccaccio owes a great debt to Dante. What is overlooked, however,
is the degree to which Dante influenced the development of the
"younger" Boccaccio, which a review of Boccaccio's corpus
of works helps to make clear.
Hollander, Robert and Albert L. Rossi. "Dante's Republican Treasury." In Dante Studies, CIV, 59-82. [1986]
Attempts to correct the view of a rigid opposition between Republican
Rome and Imperial Rome in Dante's thought. Indeed, "Dante
considers himself a continuer of the republican tradition even
in his imperial aspirations." Discusses Paradiso VI
and the reasons ("their importance to sacred history")
for the prominence given these six emperors--Julius Caesar, Augustus,
Tiberius, Titus, Justinian, and Charlemagne. Surveys the republican
presence in the Comedy with particular attention to Scipio
Africanus Major, and contends that Cacciaguida's depiction of
twelfth-century Florence is "a communal reincarnation of
the republican civic virtues of ancient Rome."
Hyde, Thomas. The Poetic Theology of Love: Cupid in Renaissance Literature. Newark: University of Delaware Press; London and Toronto: Associated University Presses. 212 p. [1986]
General treatment of Cupid as god of love in the Middle Ages and
Renaissance. Contains a chapter on "The Vita Nuova
and the Trionfi" (45-71), which gives a detailed analysis
of the figure of Amore in Dante's libello.
Jacoff, Rachel, editor, John Freccero, q.v,
Dante: The Poetics of Conversion. [1986]
Kaske, R. E. "Dante's 'DXV'" (1961). Reprinted
in Dante (q.v.), pp. 47-63. [1986]
Kay, Richard. "The Mentalité of Dante's Monarchia." In Res Publica Litterarum, IX, 183-191. [1986]
While in the first and the third book of the Monarchia
Dante has recourse to the usual scholastic method of demonstration
through logic and quotations of recognized authors, in the second
book he builds his demonstration on the authority of Roman historians
and poets, revealing in this way a very peculiar mentalité.
This new attitude toward classical authors can be rightly labeled
"pre-humanistic." The second book is also characterized
by its style which combines logic and rhetoric, even though the
Monarchia is composed as a tractatus. Dante himself
was aware of the singularity of his position stating that only
one out of a thousand litterati would read it "rationally,"
i.e., with true understanding. An appendix gives the figures and
averages of the quotations from the various authors which occur
in the Monarchia, underscoring the difference in the sources
among the three books.
Kleinhenz, Christopher. "American Dante Bibliography for 1985." In Dante Studies, CIV, 163-192. [1986]
With brief analyses.
Kleinhenz, Christopher. "Dante and the Bible: Intertexual Approaches to the Divine Comedy." In Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 225-236. [1986]
The intellectual, literary, and theological bases of the Divine
Comedy find their origins in the typology, allegory, and Providential
history of traditional biblical hermeneutics. Meaning in the Comedy
is generated or enhanced when seen against the larger referential
context of the Bible. Specific treatment of the Filippo Argenti
episode in Inferno VIII.
Kleinhenz, Christopher. The Early Italian Sonnet: The First Century (1220-1321). Lecce: Milella. 250 p. ("Collezione di Studi e Testi," 2.) [1986]
Discusses the origin and development of the sonnet in the Duecento
and early Trecento. One chapter (the seventh, pp. 201-220) examines
Dante's views on this metrical form as expressed in De vulgari
eloquentia and analyzes a number of his sonnets within the
more general context of the history of this poetic form. Contents:
Introduction; 1. Theories of Origin; 2. The Sonnets of the Scuola
Siciliana; 3. The Later "Sicilians" and Guittone
d'Arezzo: Imitation and Experimentation; 4. Guittonianism and
the Poetry of Transition; 5. The Poets of the Dolce Stil Nuovo;
6. The Other Face of the Late Thirteenth-Century Lyric: Realism,
Comedy, and the Bourgeoisie; 7. Dante and the Art of the Sonnet;
Epilogue: The Sonnet in Retrospect; Bibliography; Index.
Kleinhenz, Christopher. "Notes on Dante's Use of Classical Myths and the Mythological Tradition." In Kentucky Romance Quarterly, XXXIII, No. 4 (November), 477-484. [1986]
The methods by which Dante perceives, presents, and reinterprets
classical myths and mythological figures are crucial to understanding
how he gives them new life and meaning in the Divine Comedy.
Two specific and interrelated points are examined here: the paths
by which myths and figures reach Dante and enter the fabric of
the poem, and the manner in which his presentation reflects the
intermediary mythological tradition (Fulgentius, et al.). Specific
treatment of the episode of the thieves in Inferno XXIV
and XXV.
La Favia, Louis M. "'...chè quivi per canti...' (Purg., XII, 113), Dante's Programmatic Use of Psalms and Hymns in the Purgatorio." In Studies in Iconography, X (1984-1986), 53-65. [1986]
Examines how Dante appropriately and intentionally uses psalms
and hymns from the liturgy and canonical hours in the Purgatory
to establish 1) a chronological context corresponding to the earthly
day (Ante-Purgatory) and 2) a penitential and ritualistic context
relating to the general purgation process and to the progress
of Dante the Pilgrim up the mountain toward salvation.
Macksey, Richard. "'In altri cerchi ancora': Charles Singleton and the Hopkins Years." In Dante Studies, CIV, 45-57. [1986]
An affectionate memoir of Charles Singleton.
Magister Regis: Studies in Honor of Robert Earl Kaske. Edited by Arthur Groos, with Emerson Brown, Jr., Giuseppe Mazzotta, Thomas D. Hill, and Joseph S. Wittig. New York: Fordham University Press. vii, 292 p. [1986]
Contains three essays on Dante by Emerson Brown, Jr., Giuseppe
Mazzotta, and R. A. Shoaf. Each essay is listed separately in
this bibliography under the individual author's name.
Mandelbaum, Allen. "'Taken from Brindisi': Vergil in an Other's Otherworld." In Vergil at 2000: Commemorative Essays on the Poet and His Influence, edited by John D. Bernard (New York: AMS), pp. 225-239. [1986]
Discusses with insight the many and diverse links between Dante
and Virgil.
Marks, Herbert Joseph. "The Language of Adam: Biblical Naming and Poetic Etymology." In Dissertation Abstracts International, XLVII, No. 4 (October), 1311A. [1986]
Doctoral Dissertation, Yale University, 1985. 194p. (Discusses
"Dante's ideal of an 'illustrious vernacular' in the context
of his views on adamic language.")
Mazzotta, Giuseppe. "The American Criticism of Charles Singleton." In Dante Studies, CIV, 27-44. [1986]
Searching analysis of Charles S. Singleton's place in contemporary
criticism and within the tradition of American Dante scholarship
with particular reference to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Contains an
excursus on Dante as a visionary poet with special reference to
Peter Damian and Paradise XXI.
Mazzotta, Giuseppe. "The Light of Venus and the Poetry of Dante." In Magister Regis... (q.v.), pp. 147-169. [1986]
Traces some of the complex implications of rhetoric in Dante's
thought as developed in the Convivio, the Vita nuova,
and especially in Inferno XXVII. In the first example,
the relationship of rhetoric to ethics is examined. The second
discussion revolves around metaphysical concerns, and hence the
link between rhetoric and the soul. The treatment of Inferno
XXVII is framed within the context of the debate on the liberal
arts in the thirteenth century between the Franciscans and the
secular masters of theology of the University of Paris. Dante
presents the interplay of sophism between Boniface and Guido da
Montefeltro as emblematic of the confusion of boundaries between
politics and theology, indeed, between the various divisions of
knowledge itself.
Mazzotta, Giuseppe. "The Light of Venus and the Poetry of Dante: Vita Nuova and Inferno XXVII." In Dante (q.v.), pp. 189-204. [1986]
A slightly abbreviated version of the item above.
Mazzotta, Giuseppe. The World at Play in Boccaccio's "Decameron". Princeton: Princeton University Press. xvi, 280 p. [1986]
An examination of the dynamics of the Decameron with regard
to the central notion of "play" and to how this element
is linked to other important facets of medieval culture: commercialism,
love, law, politics, ethical behavior, medical practice, etc.
Contains many references to Dante. Contents: Introduction;
1. Plague and Play; 2. The Marginality of Literature; 3. The Riddle
of Values; 4. Allegory and the Pornographic Imagination; 5. The
Heart of Love; 6. The Comedy of Love; 7. Games of Laughter; 8.
The Law and Its Transgressions; 9. The Virtues: Ethics and Rhetoric;
Index.
McKee, Francis. "Commentary on Drafts and Fragments." In Paideuma, XV, Nos. 2-3 (Fall-Winter), 265-277. [1986]
Contains brief references to Pound's use of certain passages from
the Divine Comedy (Geryon, Paolo and Francesca, Paradiso
II) in Drafts and Fragments.
McMahon, Robert. "Narcissus and the Problem of Interpretation: Dante's Theory of Reading in the Commedia." In Dissertation Abstracts International, XLVII, No. 6 (December), 2153A. [1986]
Doctoral Dissertation, University of California-Santa Cruz 1986.
265 p.
Moliterno, Gino. "Mouth to Mandible: Man to Lupa: The Moral and Political Lesson of Cocytus." In Dante Studies, CIV, 145-161. [1986]
Discusses, with concentration on the Ugolino episode, the political
dimensions of Cocytus with its moral and religious degradation.
Analyzes with pertinent references to Lucifer the debasement in
the Ugolino episode of the human mouth through impious speech
and cannibalistic use. In his words and actions Ugolino parodies
the Pater Noster, the saying of which accompanies the eating
of the consecrated bread in the Eucharistic feast, and becomes
in the process the moral equivalent of the lupa and emblematic
of partisan strife that afflicts the Italian cities in this historical
period.
Murphy, John J. "The Dantean Journey in Cather's My Mortal Enemy." In Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Newsletter, XXX, No. 3 (Summer), 11-14. [1986]
Examines Willa Cather's novel "as an allegory of the apostasy
of the soul--its days of sin, its punishment, its journey back
to God--as viewed by a young woman only partially understanding
it. The novel depicts a journey like the journey in Dante's Divine
Comedy, and like Dante's poem includes the confessional ritual,
the crucifixion image, the ascent to the mountain top, and the
vision of dawn."
Newman, Francis X. "St. Augustine's Three Visions
and the Structure of the Commedia" (1967). Reprinted
in Dante (q.v.), pp. 65-81. [1986]
Newman, John Kevin. The Classical Epic Tradition. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. x + 566 p. [1986]
Contains a chapter on "The Critical Failure: Dante and Petrarch"
(244-292), in which the author examines Dante's literary activity
within the classical epic tradition and with constant reference
to classical authors.
Noakes, Susan. "The Double Misreading of Paolo and
Francesca" (1983). Reprinted in Dante (q.v.),
pp. 151-166. [1986]
Nolan, Peter E. "Order's Image in Heinrich von Morungen,
Dante, Chaucer, and Two Middle English Lyrics." In Hypatia:
Essays in Classics, Comparative Literature, and Philosophy Presented
to Hazel E. Barnes on Her Seventieth Birthday, edited by William
M. Calder, III, Ulrich K. Goldsmith, and Phyllis B. Kenevan (Boulder:
Colorado Associated University Press; 1985), pp. 137-150. Brief
discussion of the amor tercets in Inferno 5 to demonstrate
how "patterns of ordination act in dialectical opposition
to the patterns of verisimilitude." [1986]
O'Neill, Kevin, Charles. "The Voyage from Dante to Beckett." In Dissertation Abstracts International, XLVI, No. 9 (March), 2709A. [1986]
Doctoral Dissertation, University of California-Berkeley, 1985.
188 p. (Treats themes of the fall and consequent loss of the word,
exile, and the voyage as quest for the original word in Dante.)
Parker, Deborah Wynne. "Cantos of Exile: Tradition and Exegesis." In Dissertation Abstracts International, XLVI, No. 7 (January), 1963A. [1986]
Doctoral Dissertation, Harvard University, 1985. 151 p. (Discusses
the commentary tradition from the beginning through the 19th century
of Inferno VI, X, XV, and Paradiso XVII.)
Payne, Roberta Louise. "The Influence of Dante on
Medieval English Dream Visions." In Dissertation Abstracts
International, XLVI, No. 9 (March), 2688A. Doctoral Dissertation,
University of Denver, 1985. 200 p. (Discusses influence of Dante
on Pearl, Chaucer's The House of Fame, The Parliament
of Fowls and Troilus and Criseyde, Lydgate's Temple
of Glass, and James I's Kingis Quair.) [1986]
Peck, Russell. "Chaucer and the Imagination." In Studies in the Age of Chaucer: Proceedings, II, 33-48. [1986]
Compares the poetic process of imagining in Chaucer's The Book
of the Duchess and Dante's Vita Nuova. The first two
meetings with Beatrice would illustrate the mind's journey from
the perception of phenomena to the contemplation of underlying
relationships within the phenomena, a process aided by memory
and imagination. The dependence of the poetic experience on images
is illustrated in chapter 34 of the Vita Nuova, where Dante
shifts from painting an angel on a wooden panel to the composition
of a sonnet. From this episode several propositions on the nature
of poetry and imagination are deduced and compared with instances
in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess.
P[ellegrini], A[nthony] L. "The Publications of Charles
S. Singleton." In Dante Studies, CIV, 3-8. [1986]
Pietropaolo, Domenico. "The Editio Princeps of Boccaccio's Commentary on the Divine Comedy." In Quaderni d'italianistica, VII, No. 2 (Autunno), 153-163. [1986]
Treats the first edition of Boccaccio's commentary on the Divine
Comedy (1724) focusing on the evidence which points to the
key role played by Anton Maria Bisconi, and why Bisconi's name
was omitted by the publisher. The work had been published in Naples
by Lorenzo Ciccarelli (under the pseudonym of Cellenio Zacclori)
but was issued with a false imprint of Florence. The actual date
of publication is also uncertain.
Pugh, David. "The Motif of Dazzling in Faust II and the Divine Comedy." In Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, XIII, No. 1 (March), 29-34. [1986]
Briefly discusses allusions to the Divine Comedy in Goethe's
Faust II, with emphasis on the differences and their significance
for an interpretation of the latter work. Dante's Earthly Paradise
and his glance heavenward (Par. I) are the intertextual
references involved.
Quint, David. "Epic Tradition and Inferno IX"
(1975). Reprinted in Dante (q.v.), pp. 133-137.
[1986]
Richards, Mary Margaret. "The Idea of Rome in the Work of T. S. Eliot." In Dissertation Abstracts International, XLVII, No. 5 (November), 1736A. [1986]
Doctoral Dissertation, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,
1986. 158 p. (Refers to Dante's conception of Rome and the influence
on Eliot.)
Ross, Charles S. "Mandelbaum's Dante: Contemporary Prosody." In Italian Quarterly, XXVII, No. 103 (Winter), 59-69. [1986]
Considers the merits of Mandelbaum's translation of Dante's Divine
Comedy (see Dante Studies, XCIX, 173-174; CI, 194;
CIII, 140) in comparison with other translations and within a
more general discussion of the art of poetic translation.
Rossi, Albert L. (Joint author). "Dante's Republican
Treasury." See Hollander, Robert....
Schnapp, Jeffrey T. The Transfiguration of History at the Center of Dante's Paradise. Princeton: Princeton University Press. [xiii], 268 pp. [1986]
Erudite, far reaching study of the central cantos of Paradiso
(XIV-XVIII), in which the classical epic tradition has become
thoroughly Christianized and secular history is viewed within
the Christian context of sacrifice and redemption. Special attention
is given to the correspondences between the iconography of Christ's
Transfiguration and the Cross in the Heaven of Mars and between
the mosaic decoration in the churches in Ravenna (esp. Sant'Apollinare
in Classe) and what the author terms Dante's "poetics of
martyrdom." Contents: 1. Introduction: History and
Eternity at the Center of Dante's Paradise; 2. Bella, Horrida
Bella: History in the Grip of Mars; 3. Marte/Morte/Martirio: The
Dilemma of Florentine History; 4. Unica Spes Hominum, Crux, O
Venerabile Signum; 5. Sant'Apollinare in Classe and Dante's Poetics
of Martyrdom; Bibliography; Index to Passages Cited from Dante's
Works; Subject Index.
Shapiro, Marianne. "On the Role of Rhetoric in the Convivio." In Romance Philology, XL, No. 1 (August), 38-64. [1986]
Drawing on material from Hugh of St. Victor, Geoffrey of Vinsauf,
Brunetto Latini, and Augustine, among others, the first part of
the article is dedicated to an elucidation of Dante's evaluation
of Rhetoric in his cultural context. Historically, one can trace
an increasingly tolerant attitude towards poetry and rhetoric
as they begin to integrate into the sphere of philosophy. The
second section concentrates on a discussion of the second tractate
of the Convivio and Dante's hierarchy of science and its
related angelic correspondences, especially that of the "terzo
cielo" which corresponds to Rhetoric. A link is thus established
between love of knowledge in general, rhetoric and Moral Philosophy;
"Bounded on the south by Rhetoric and on the north by Moral
Philosophy, the Convivio exists most clearly as an alliance
of the two sciences,"
Shoaf, R. A. "Dante's Beard: Sic et non (Purgatorio 31.68)." In Magister Regis...(q.v.), pp. 171-177. [1986]
Discusses the problems involved in establishing the existence
or non-existence of the pilgrim's beard in Purgatory XXXI
as it relates to the larger issue of truth in fiction. Argues
that the reference to the beard, whether it existed or not, can
be traced to a number of sources in Christian, pagan and critical
texts, and creates a sub-text which is itself the essential truth
of the fiction.
Shoaf, R. A. "The Franklin's Tale: Chaucer and Medusa." In Chaucer Review, XXI, No. 2, 274-290. [1986]
Taking as his point of departure the episode in Inferno
IX and X (concerning the Medusa, petrification, Epicureanism,
and the contrast between the letter and the spirit as represented
in the address to the reader), the author discusses the "Franklin's
Tale" in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales as a "palimpsest"
of Dante's text.
Singleton, Charles S. "Two Kinds of Allegory"
(1954). Reprinted in Dante (q.v.), pp. 11-19.
[1986]
Smarr, Janet Levarie. Boccaccio and Fiammetta: The Narrator As Lover. Urbana and Chicago: The University of Illinois Press. [x], 284 p. [1986]
An indepth study of Boccaccio's works with particular attention
to the changing roles of the figure of Fiammetta, to the presentation
of the narrator as a lover, to the function of readers and narrators
in the text, and to the development of Boccaccio's methods as
a writer. Investigates the interrelationships of Boccaccio's works
and the nature of his borrowings from Dante with numerous references
to the latter's works (especially the Divine Comedy and
the Vita Nuova) throughout. Contents: Introduction;
1. Before Fiammetta; 2. Filocolo; 3. Teseida; 4.
Comedia delle Ninfe Fiorentine; 5. Amorosa Visione;
6. Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta; 7. Corbaccio; 8.
Decameron; 9. The Rime and Late Writings; Conclusion;
Notes; Index.
Sokolowski, Linda C. "A Pilgrim and His Journey: Illuminating Interpretations of Dante's Commedia." In Proceedings of the Illinois Medieval Association, III, 219-233. [1986]
Fourteenth-century manuscript illuminations of the Commedia,
because of their relative uniformity of scenes and subjects depicted,
provide insight into a relatively uniform interpretation of the
poem. Their emphasis upon the pilgrim and his guide, rather than
upon the souls encountered along the way, suggests that the work
be interpreted more as a record of the pilgrim's journey and education.
In choosing scenes and settings from the literal level, the illuminators
identify the pilgrim as Dante, but in portraying him and his guides
with generic features, they allow the readers to discover analogies
between their own experience and that of Dante.
Stump, Eleonore. "Dante's Hell, Aquinas' Moral Theory, and the Love of God." In Canadian Journal of Philosophy, XVI, No. 2 (June), 181-198. [1986]
Addresses the concept of God's love with regard to the punishment
of the damned, which initially seems to be a non sequitur.
After a summary discussion of Aquinas' doctrine of divine simplicity
and his definition of "goodness" and "being,"
an analysis follows of Aquinas' notion of God's love in relation
to human affairs. Humans are free to use their God-given reason
to pursue infinite good or finite pleasure or power: a love of
the good develops in the first case; a disposition to "irrational"
acts is the consequence of the second. Hence, God provides a place
for the sinner to act according to his chosen, "willed"
nature; a place where he can actualize his being to the maximum
extent possible, and come as close as possible to union with God.
Sturm-Maddox, Sara. "Petrarch's Siren: 'Dolce Parlar' and 'Dolce Canto' in the Rime Sparse." In Italian Quarterly, XXVII, No. 103 (Winter), 5-19 [1986]
Among the passages of the Comedy whose traces are prominent
in the Rime sparse is Purgatorio XIX, 19-24, describing
the seductive siren figure of the femmina balba, whose
sweet song both attracts and threatens with destruction. Vulnerability
to the siren's song as well as its impact on moral choice is a
major point of intersection between the experiences of Dante and
Petrarch. But whereas Beatrice, the beatific guide, is the opposite
of the siren, the Laura of the Rime combines the roles
of Beatrice and the siren, the desired and feared aspects of female
attraction.
Ulmer, William A. "The Dantean Politics of The Prisoner of Chillon." In Keats-Shelley Journal, XXXV, 23-29. [1986]
Discusses the possible influence of the Ugolino episode (Inf.
XXXIII) on Byron's Prisoner of Chillon.
Vance, Eugene. Mervelous Signals: Poetics and Sign Theory in the Middle Ages. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. xvii, 365 p. (Regents Studies in Medieval Culture.) [1986]
Contains a previously published chapter (see Dante Studies
CIII, 161) on "The Differing Seed: Dante's Brunetto Latini"
(230-255), in which the parallel between rhetorical and sexual
perversion is investigated.
Viglionese, Paschal C. "Internal Allusion and Symmetry at the Mid-Point of Dante's Commedia." In Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 237-249. [1986]
Internal allusion, a form of intertextuality, involves the study
of "citation-like phenomena" as it creates a communication
between individuals, philosophies and ideologies. Dante overlays
a pattern upon the Commedia which reflects the progression
of history and events as they occur outside of his text. Through
a carefully arranged structure of allusive recall, Dante demonstrates
his awareness of an even greater historical sequence: man's fall
from grace and his redemption by his return to grace through love.
Wallace, David. "Chaucer's Continental Inheritance: The Early Poems and Troilus and Criseyde." In The Cambridge Chaucer Companion, edited by Piero Boitani and Jill Mann (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 19-37. [1986]
Treats the profound effect that Dante's works had on Chaucer and
his exploration of the "complex interrelations of love, fame
and poetry." "Chaucer is Dante's truest fourteenth-century
continuator because it is in Chaucer's hands that Dante's text
rediscovers its revolutionary potential. Chaucer came across the
Commedia at precisely the right moment: that moment near
the beginnings of a vernacular tradition when a language, although
inchoate and unstable, seems (in the hands of a genius) to be
marvelously malleable, infinitely adaptive, capable of almost
anything. Chaucer learned many things from Dante, but the most
important was, quite simply, to keep faith with his own language:
a vernacular must be revolutionized from within, not patched and
amended from without."
Watson, George. "The First English Vita nuova." In The Huntington Library Quarterly, XLIX, No. 4 (Autumn), 401-407. [1986]
Treats the history and the critical reception of the first English
translation of the Vita nuova by Joseph Garrow (1789-1857).
This virtually forgotten bilingual edition was published by Le
Monnier in 1846.
Yowell, Donna L. "Ugolino's 'bestial segno': The De vulgari eloquentia in Inferno XXXII-XXXIII." In Dante Studies, CIV, 121-143. [1986]
Discusses in great detail the related topics of speech and silence,
humanity and inhumanity, as distinguished in the De Vulgari
Eloquentia and as presented in the Ugolino episode (Inf.
XXXII-XXXIII). Yowell's meticulous analysis of the episode centers
on the importance of communication and on Ugolino's unrepentant
bestiality which manifests itself both through his silence in
the tower and through his deceitful use of speech for treacherous
ends.
Zago, Ester. "Magia come allucinazione: La foresta incantata nel XIII canto della Gerusalemme Liberata." In Selecta, VII, 117-122. [1986]
Refers briefly to Inferno XIII as one of the possible sources
for the enchanted forest in the thirteenth canto of Tasso's Gerusalemme
Liberata.
The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. [III] Paradiso. A verse translation with introductions and commentary by Allen Mandelbaum. Drawings by Barry Moser. Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: The University of California Press, @1982, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 140.) Reviewed by:
Marguerite Chiarenza, in Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 300-303;
Richard H. Lansing, in Speculum, LXI, No. 2 (April), 495-496.
Dante in Hell: The "De Vulgari Eloquentia." Introduction, Text, Translation, and Commentary by Warman Welliver. Ravenna: Longo, 1981. (See Dante Studies, C, 134.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Dante's "Purgatory." Translated by Mark Musa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981. (See Dante Studies, C, 134.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Armour, Peter. The Door of Purgatory: A Study of Multiple Symbolism in Dante's "Purgatorio." Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983. Reviewed by:
Teodolinda Barolini, in Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 290-291;
John J. Guzzardo, in Speculum, LXI, No. 1 (January), 120-122.
Barolini, Teodolinda. Dante's Poets: Textuality and Truth in the "Comedy." Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 141-142.) Reviewed by:
Philip R. Berk, in Poetics Today, VII, No. 2, 382-383;
Charles T. Davis, in Medievalia et Humanistica: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Culture, XIV, 207-219;
R. A. Shoaf, in Speculum, LXI, No. 4 (October), 1016;
Prudence Shaw, in Times Literary Supplement (31 January), p. 122;
Karla Taylor, in Renaissance Quarterly, XXXIX, No. 2 (Summer),
282-284.
Bemrose, Stephen. Dante's Angelic Intelligences: Their Importance in the Cosmos and in Pre-Christian Religion. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1983. Reviewed by:
Richard Kay, in Speculum, LXI, No. 2 (April), 384-386.
Cambridge Readings in Dante's "Comedy." Edited by Kenelm Foster and Patrick Boyde. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1981. (See Dante Studies, CII, 167-168.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Cassell, Anthony K. Dante's Fearful Art of Justice. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 144.) Reviewed by:
Zygmunt G. Baranski, in Italian Studies, XLI, 127-128;
Charles T. Davis, in Medievalia et Humanistica: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Culture, XIV, 207-219;
Raymond-Jean Frontain, in Studies in the Age of Chaucer, VIII, 173-175;
Prudence Shaw, in Times Literary Supplement (31 January),
p. 122.
Cavalcanti, Guido. The Poetry of Guido Cavalcanti. Edited and translated by Lowry Nelson, Jr. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc. (The Garland Library of Medieval Literature, Series A, 18.) (See above, under Studies.) Reviewed by:
Mario Marti, in Giornale storico della letteratura italiana,
CLXIII, Fasc. 524, 604-606.
Cervigni, Dino S. Dante's Poetry of Dreams. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki. (See above, under Studies.) Reviewed by:
Mario Marti, in Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, CLXIII, Fasc. 522, 266-285;
A[ldo] V[allone], in L'Alighieri, XXVII, No. 1 (gennaio-giugno),
71-72.
Chiampi, James Thomas. Shadowy Prefaces: Conversion and Writing in the "Divine Comedy." Ravenna: Longo, 1981. (See Dante Studies, C, 138.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Costa, Dennis. Irenic Apocalypse: Some Uses of Apocalyptic in Dante, Petrarch and Rabelais. Saratoga, California: Anma Libri, 1981. (See Dante Studies, C, 139.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Dante among the Moderns. Edited by Stuart Y. McDougal. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1985. (See Dante Studies, CIV, 168.) Reviewed by:
Thomas Werge, in Annali d'Italianistica, IV, 291-292.
Dante Comparisons--Comparative Studies of Dante and: Montale, Foscolo, Tasso, Chaucer, Petrarch, Propertius and Catullus. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1985. Reviewed by:
Glauco Cambon, in Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 311-312.
Dante in America: The First Two Centuries. Edited by A. Bartlett Giamatti. Binghamton, New York: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1983. (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 23.) (See Dante Studies, CII, 150-151.) Reviewed by:
August Buck, in Deutsches Dante-Jahrbuch, LXI, 165-168.
Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio: Studies in the Italian Trecento in Honor of Charles S. Singleton. Edited by Aldo S. Bernardo and Anthony L. Pellegrini. Binghamton, New York: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1983. (See Dante Studies, CII, 151) Reviewed by:
August Buck, in Deutsches Dante-Jahrbuch, LXI, 169-172;
Fredi Chiappelli, in Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 291-296;
Susan Noakes, in Speculum, LXI, No. 2 (April), 492.
Dante Studies, Volume I: Dante in the Twentieth Century. Edited by Adolph Caso. Boston: Dante University of America Press, 1982. (See Dante Studies, CI, 197-198.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Dello Vicario, Annagiulia Angelone. Il richiamo di Virgilio nella poesia italiana (momenti significativi). Presentazione di Francesco Sbordone. Napoli: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 1981. Reviewed by:
Carmine Di Biase, in Italian Quarterly, XXVII, No. 103
(Winter), 117-120.
Davis, Charles T. Dante's Italy, and Other Essays. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 146-147.) Reviewed by:
John C. Barnes, in Italian Studies, XLI, 129-130.
Di Scipio, Giuseppe C. The Symbolic Rose in Dante's "Paradiso." Ravenna: Longo, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 147-148.) Reviewed by:
Rachel Jacoff, in Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 303-306.
Ezra Pound among the Poets. Edited by George Bornstein. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1985. (See Dante Studies, CIV, 177.) Reviewed by:
Michael North, in Southern Humanities Review, XX, No. 3
(Summer), 267-268.
Farnell, Stewart. The Political Ideas of "The Divine Comedy": An Introduction. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1985. (See Dante Studies, CIV, 168.) Reviewed by:
Ronald B. Herzman, in Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 306-310;
Albert Wingell, in University of Toronto Quarterly, LVI,
No. 1 (Fall), 142- 143.
Ferrante, Joan M. The Political Vision of the "Divine Comedy". Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 149-150.)
Reviewed by:
Charles T. Davis, in Medievalia et Humanistica: Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Culture, XIV, 207-219;
Ronald B. Herzman, in Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 306-310;
Richard Kay, in Speculum, LXI, No. 4 (October), 925-927;
Richard H. Lansing, in Criticism, XXVIII, No. 1 (Winter), 105-107;
Prudence Shaw, in Times Literary Supplement (31 January), p. 122;
Franco Suitner, in Lettere Italiane, XXXVIII, No. 3 (luglio-settembre),
442-444.
Foscolo, Ugo. Studi su Dante, Parte II: Commedia di Dante Alighieri. Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Ugo Foscolo, Vol. IX, Parte II. Edited by Giorgio Petrocchi. Firenze: Le Monnier, 1981. l, 401 p. Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Greene, Thomas M. The Light in Troy: Imitation and Discovery in Renaissance Poetry. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1982. (See Dante Studies, CI, 202.) Reviewed by:
Martin Mueller, in Canadian Review of Comparative Literature,
XIII, No. 3 (September), 484-487.
Iannucci, Amilcare A. Forma ed evento nella "Divina Commedia". Roma: Bulzoni, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 153.) Reviewed by:
Lawrence Baldassaro, in The Canadian Modern Language Review,
XLIII, No. 1 (October), 164.
MacQueen, John. Numerology: Theory and Outline History of a Literary Mode. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1985. Reviewed by:
Alexander Dunlop, in Renaissance Quarterly, XXXIX, No.
2 (Summer), 329-330.
Marti, Mario. Studi su Dante. Galatina: Congedo, 1984. Reviewed by:
Christopher Kleinhenz, in Annali d'Italianistica, IV, 290-291.
Mazzaro, Jerome. The Figure of Dante: An Essay on the "Vita Nuova." Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1981. (See Dante Studies, C, 148.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November), 215-226;
Vincenzo Tripodi, in Romance Quarterly, XXXIII, No. 1 (February),
119.
Moleta, Vincent. Guinizelli in Dante. Roma: Storia e Letteratura, 1980. Reviewed by:
Rachel Jacoff, in Speculum, LXI, No. 1 (January), 182-184.
Paolini, Shirley J. Confessions of Sin and Love in the Middle Ages: Dante's "Commedia" and St. Augustine's "Confessions." Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982. (See Dante Studies, CI, 208.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Richards, Earl Jeffrey. Dante and the "Roman de la Rose:" An Investigation into the Vernacular Narrative Context of the "Commedia." Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1981. (See Dante Studies, C, 151.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Roddewig, Marcella. Dante Alighieri. Die göttliche Komödie: Vergleichende Bestandsaufnahme der Commedia-Handschriften. Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann Verlag, 1984. Reviewed by:
Ilona Klein and Christopher Kleinhenz, in Italica, LXIII,
No. 3 (Autumn), 314-315.
Rolfs, Daniel. The Last Cross: A History of the Suicide Theme in Italian Literature. Ravenna: Longo, 1981. (See Dante Studies, C, 152.) Reviewed by:
Frederick Bottley, in Canadian Journal of Italian Studies,
IX, No. 33, 195- 198.
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1984. Reviewed by:
Alan E. Bernstein, in Speculum, LXI, No. 4 (October), 994-997.
Schless, Howard H. Chaucer and Dante: A Revaluation. Norman, Oklahoma: Pilgrim Books, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 159-160.) Reviewed by:
N. R. Havely, in Speculum, LXI, No. 4 (October), 997-999;
Werner von Koppenfels, in Deutsches Dante-Jahrbuch, LXI, 185-190;
David Wallace, in Studies in the Age of Chaucer, VIII, 245-249;
Winthrop Wetherbee, in Modern Philology, LXXXIII, No. 4
(May), 419-420.
Shoaf, R. A. Dante, Chaucer, and the Currency of the Word. Money, Images, and Reference in Late Medieval Poetry. Norman, Oklahoma: Pilgrim Books, 1983. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 170-171.) Reviewed by:
Alfred David, in Speculum, LXI, No. 2 (April), 468-470;
Joan M. Ferrante, in Romance Philology, XXXIX, No. 3 (February),
393-396.
Slade, Carole, editor. Approaches to Teaching Dante's "Divine Comedy." New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1982. (See Dante Studies, CI, 211.) Reviewed by:
Gustavo Costa, in Romance Philology, XL, No. 2 (November),
215-226.
Smith, A. J. The Metaphysics of Love: Studies in Renaissance Poetry from Dante to Milton. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Reviewed by:
Jonathan F. S. Post, in Renaissance Quarterly, XXXIX, No.3
(Autumn), 539-541.
Terpening, Ronnie H. Charon and the Crossing: Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Transformations of a Myth. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press; London-Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1985.
(See Dante Studies, CIV, 183.). Reviewed by:
John M. Steadman, in Renaissance Quarterly, XXXXIX, No.
3 (Autumn), 533-535.
Van Dyke, Carolynn. The Fiction of Truth: Structures of Meaning in
Narrative and Dramatic Allegory. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1985. (See Dante Studies, CIV, 183-184.) Reviewed by:
Annabel Patterson, in Renaissance Quarterly, XXXIX, No. 3 (Autumn), 541-544;
Philip Rollinson, in Spenser Newsletter, XVII, No. 1 (Winter),
9-10.
Vestigia: Studi in onore di Giuseppe Billanovich. Edited by Rino Avesani, Mirella Ferrari, Tino Foffano, Giuseppe Frasso, and Agostino Sottili. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1984. Reviewed by:
Sesto Prete, in Renaissance Quarterly, XXXIX, No. 1 (Spring),
71-73.
Wallace, David. Chaucer and the Early Writings of Boccaccio. Woodbridge, Suffolk and Dover, New Hampshire: Boydell and Brewer, 1985. (See Addenda below) (Chaucer Studies, 12.) Reviewed by:
James Dean, in Philological Quarterly, LXV, No. 3 (Summer), 407-410;
Millicent Marcus, in Italica, LXIII, No. 3 (Autumn), 315-318;
B. A. Windeatt, in Studies in the Age of Chaucer, VIII,
254-257.
Wetherbee, Winthrop. Chaucer and the Poets: An Essay on "Troilus and Criseyde." Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIV, 191.) Reviewed by:
Piero Boitani, in Speculum, LXI, No. 3 (July), 716-718.
Anderson, David. "Pound alla ricerca di una lingua per Cavalcanti." In Lettere italiane, XXXVII, No. 1 (gennaio-marzo, 1985), 24-40.
Contains references to the influence of Ezra Pound on Binyon's
translation of the Divine Comedy and some commentary on
the recent translation of the poem in English by C. H. Sisson.
Arrowsmith, William. "Ruskin's Fireflies." In Pequod, XV (1983), 83-107, and XVI-XVII (1984), 156-179.
Examines "one of the most prominent instances of a 'saturated'
image or obsessional metaphor in Ruskin--the famous fireflies"
with some references to Dante (Inf. XVII, XXVI, XXX; Par.
XXX).
Barber, Joseph. "Prospettive per un'analisi statistica del 'Fiore'." In Revue des études italiennes, XXXI, Nos. 1-4 (1985), 5-24.
After choosing samples from the works of several poets--Dante,
Pucci, Folgore, a "standard" group from the Duecento,
another group from the Trecento, and Fiore--the author
makes a statistical analysis in each sample of the recurrence
of "casual" elements--e.g., words with a certain number
of syllables, prepositions and keywords, such as poi, suo,
come, ogni, sempre, allora, etc. He
also takes into consideration syntactical aspects of the sonnets,
e.g. the recurrence of a period or pause after the fourth verse.
Confident that this method can reveal the "fingerprints"
of a poet, Barber gives instead a minor importance to the analogical
method used by Contini and Fasani. He concludes that none of the
examined poets can be the author of the Fiore. Instead,
the author of Fiore should be an early fourteenth century
Florentine poet who lived in France, was well acquainted with
the works of Dante, and was unknown in the cultural circles of
the time.
Borgia, Carl Ralph. "Notes on Dante in the Spanish Allegorical Poetry of Imperial, Santillana, and Mena." In Hispanofila, XXVII, No. 3 (May, 1984), 1-10.
Surveys the differing critical views on the nature of allegory
in the Divine Comedy and notes the very different conception
of this literary mode by three fifteenth-century Spanish poets--Francisco
Imperial, the Marqués de Santillana, and Juan de Mena--who,
nevertheless, acknowledge Dante's influence on the form if not
the meaning of their works.
Cleary, Thomas R., and Terry G. Sherwood. "Women in Conrad's Ironical Epic: Virgil, Dante, and Heart of Darkness." In Conradiana, XVI, No. 3 (1984), 183-194.
Examines the parallels between the Divine Comedy and Conrad's
novel and how Dante's influence helps "guide his conception
of the symbolic journey and shape his ironic treatment of women
and their crucial role in the journey."
Cowan, Bainard. "Dante, Hegel, and the Comedy of History." In The Terrain of Comedy, edited with an introduction by Louise Cowan (Dallas: Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, 1984), pp. 89-109.
Discusses the general theory of "comedy" and Dante's
particular notion of this genre, with a consideration of Hegel's
philosophy of history.
Cro, Stelio. "Vita Nuova" Figura "Comoediae": Dante tra la "villana Morte e Matelda." In Italian Culture, VI (1985), 13-30.
After asserting that the Vita Nuova can be interpreted
in an allegorical sense similar to that of the Comedy,
the author gives a new lectio and interpretation of some
verses in the canzone "Donne ch'avete intelletto d'amore."
He changes verse 26--"là 'v'è alcun..."--to
read "là v'è alcun...." This alteration,
together with other considerations, would facilitate the interpretation
that Dante, not yet conscious of the redemptive function of Beatrice,
felt a carnal passion for her and then feared to lose her. The
author identifies Matelda with the young friend of Beatrice whose
death is recorded in Chapter 8 of the Vita Nuova. This
and other particulars could demonstrate that the Vita Nuova
was revised by Dante during the composition of the Comedy
in order to anticipate and comment on certain situations of his
masterpiece, which without these auxiliary hints from the Vita
Nuova could not be easily explained.
Daigle, Marsha Ann. "Dante's Divine Comedy
and C. S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles." In Christianity
& Literature, XXXIV, No. 4 (Summer, 1985), 41-58. Treats
Dante's Divine Comedy as a thematic source and stylistic
model of the stories that comprise C. S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles
(especially "The Silver Chair" and "The Voyage
of the Dawn Treader").
Della Terza, Dante. "L'italianistica negli Stati Uniti." In Bollettino d'italianistica (Università di Roma "La Sapienza" [Leiden: Brill]), I, fasc. 2 (1983), 195-204.
Contains a section on Dante criticism in the United States.
De Panizza Lorch, Maristella. "Dante's World: The Challenge of a Text." In Teaching Language Through Literature XXIII, 1 (December, 1983), 15-31.
Treats her experience of teaching a special course on Dante (in
English) at Columbia University.
DuBois, Page. History, Rhetorical Description and the Epic from Homer to Spenser. Cambridge, England: D. S. Brewer, 1982. 131 p.
The book, which is concerned with one form of the representation
of history in epic poetry, contains a chapter on "Dante:
The Upward Spiral" (52-70). Treats ekphrasis in the
Comedy as a convention of epic poetry and studies Dante's
idea of history, the Old Man of Crete, and the first terrace on
the mountain of Purgatory with its images of humility and pride.
Frongia, Eugenio. "'A Heap of Broken Images': T. S. Eliot, Dante, and Fellini's La dolce vita." In European Studies Journal, II, No. 2 (1985), 52-57.
Studies the notions of spiritual decay, alienation and counterfeiting,
their detrimental effect on the individual and on society, and
the similarities of their representation in Eliot's The Waste
Land, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Fellini's La dolce
vita.
Havely, Nicholas. "Tearing or Breathing? Dante's Influence on Filostrato and Troilus." In Studies in the Age of Chaucer. Proceedings, No. 1, 1984: "Reconstructing Chaucer," edited by Paul Strohm and Thomas J. Heffernan (Published by the New Chaucer Society; Knoxville: The University of Tennessee, 1985), pp. 51-59.
Examines and distinguishes between Boccaccio's and Chaucer's use
of Dante's Divine Comedy in, respectively, Filostrato
and Troilus and Criseyde. Argues that in Book III of Troilus
Chaucer, unlike Boccaccio, incorporates much material from the
Purgatorio and for very precise purposes.
Hawkins, Peter S. "'By Gradual Scale Sublimed': Dante's
Benedict and Contemplative Ascent." In Monasticism and
the Arts, edited by Timothy Gregory Verdon with the assistance
of John Dally, with a foreword by John W. Cook (Syracuse, New
York: Syracuse University Press, 1984), pp. 255-269.
Examines Dante's treatment of St. Benedict and the ladder in the
Heaven of Saturn (Par. XXI-XXII), as well as the symbolic
role of monasticism in late medieval society.
Herzman, Ronald. "Dante and Francis." In Franciscan Studies, XLII, No. 20 (1982), 96-114.
Dante presents Francis as a kind of embodiment of the Commedia,
a document written by the hand of God which must be read at ever
deeper levels. Thus, on the personal level, Francis is the definitive
example of humility. On the cosmological level, Bonaventure's
doctrine of the created universe as God's footprints is a statement
of the same reality. The poem of personal conversion is at the
same time the book of the universe.
Holloway, Julia Bolton. "Alfonso El Sabio, Brunetto Latini, and Dante Alighieri." In Thought, LX, No. 239 (September, 1985), 468-483.
Surveys Brunetto Latini manuscripts and examines the possible
interrelations between literary material produced and translated
at the court of King Alfonso El Sabio and Dante's corpus, with
Brunetto Latini serving as intermediary. Emphasis is on elements
from the Arabic world that may have filtered through Brunetto
to find their way into the Comedy.
McClung, William Alexander. The Architecture of Paradise: Survivals of Eden and Jerusalem. Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: The University of California Press, 1983. xiv, 185 p.
Contains some brief references to Dante's conception of Eden and
the New Jerusalem.
Migiel, Marilyn. "Between Art and Theology: Dante's Representation of Humility." In Stanford Italian Review, V, No. 2 (Fall, 1985), 141-159.
The artistic realism of Purgatorio X is a vehicle for a
theology of humility which is somewhat different from the Thomistic
formulation. The inner virtue of humility must always manifest
itself in outward signs, for its external bodily expression is
the voice of the soul. Rather than a recognition of human limits
or a renunciation of power, Dante presents humility as a mean
between two extremes. Humility is also a social virtue which fosters
the movement toward peace and justice.
Milne, Fred L. "Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, II. v. 10-11." In The Explicator, XLII, No. 3 (Spring, 1984), 23-24.
Refers to Dante's view of the noon hour (Convivio IV, xxiii,
15) in relation to Shelley's lines "The sun will not rise
until noon. Apollo / Is held in heaven by wonder."
Musa, Mark. "Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)." In European Writers: The Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Vol. I: Prudentius to Medieval Drama, edited by William T. H. Jackson and George Stade (New York: Scribner's Sons, 1983), pp. 431-450.
General life and works entry with selected bibliography.
Parker, Patricia. "Dante and the Dramatic Monologue." In Stanford Literature Review, II, No. 2 (Fall, 1985), 165-183.
Discusses the infernal Dantesque monologue with regard to its
utilization as a model in the poetry of Browning; especially its
elusive, ambiguous nature that suggests a "hidden agenda"
of self-justification. Some discussion of Browning's familiarity
with Dante; the former's use of the dramatic monologue as indicative
of a split between the public and private poet; parallels between
Ugolino's monologue (Inf. XXXIII) and Browning's "The
Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's Church."
Pugliese, Olga Zorzi. "Apocalyptic and Dantesque Elements in a Franciscan Prophecy of the Renaissance." In Proceedings of the Patristic, Mediaeval, and Renaissance Conference, X (1985), 127-135.
Refers to Dante's prophecy of the DXV (Purg. XXXIII, 43)
with its number symbolism as a source for an early sixteenth-century
Latin prophecy announcing the destruction of Florence. The manuscript
containing the prophecy is in the University of Toronto Library.
Richards, Earl Jeffrey. "Christine de Pizan and Dante: A Reexamination." In Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen, CCXXII, No. 1 (1985), 100-111.
In an attempt to correct the traditional view, the author discusses
Christine de Pizan's knowledge of Dante and his works and examines
how her explicit references to the Florentine poet "fit well
into the purpose of her polemic against the Roman de la Rose."
"Ricordo di Singleton." In L'Alighieri, XXVI, No. 2 (luglio-dicembre, 1985), 61-63.
A memoir of the distinguished American Dantista.
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1984. 356 p.
In this far-reaching study of the concept of the devil in the
period from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries, Russell includes
a section (pp. 216-233) on Dante's depiction of Lucifer and his
presentation of medieval cosmography, and the moral polarization
that obtains therein between heaven and hell, God and Lucifer.
Sherwood, Terry G. (Joint author), "Women in Conrad's
Ironical Epic: Virgil, Dante, and Heart of Darkness."
See Cleary, Thomas R.
Sicari, Stephen. "The Secret of Eleusis, Or How Pound Grounds His 'Epic of Judgment'." In Paideuma, XIV, Nos. 2-3 (Fall-Winter, 1985), 303-321.
Argues that, in composing The Cantos, Pound continuously
relies on the Divine Comedy, that he "gets from Dante
his project, his mission. Pound discovers in Dante the poet who
believes that poetry is a real force affecting people's lives,
that it can order and interpret the complex world of history by
viewing this world from an intensely lyrical/spiritual perspective,
that poetry can create the order needed for a living civilization."
Smith, Forrest S. Secular and Sacred Visionaries in the Late Middle Ages. New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., @1985, 1986. xi, 334 p. (Garland Publications in Comparative Literature.)
A general study of medieval visionary literature with concentration
on the imaginative journey to heaven and hell. In addition to
many references to Dante throughout the work, the book contains
two chapters on the Divine Comedy: "The Historic Problematic
of Otherworld Visions: The Sources of the Divina Commedia"
(175-204) and "Medieval Apocalypticism and the Itinerary
of Dante" (205-249).
Stoicheff, Peter. "Pound's Final Personae in Drafts & Fragments." In Paideuma, XIV, Nos. 2-3 (Fall-Winter, 1985), 273-302.
Explores the presence of Dante (as a persona) and his works
(Divine Comedy, Vita Nuova, Convivio) and
ideas (e.g., love, faith, justice) in Drafts & Fragments.
Wallace, David. Chaucer and the Early Writings of Boccaccio. Woodbridge, Suffolk, and Dover, New Hampshire: Boydell and Brewer, 1985. xiii, 209 p. (Chaucer Studies, 12.)
In addition to a chapter on "Accommodating Dante: The Amorosa
Visione and The House of Fame" (5-22), in which
Boccaccio's and Chaucer's respective works are examined in light
of Dante's example, the entire volume contains numerous references
to Dante and his works and their shaping influence on the two
subsequent authors.
Wetherbee, Winthrop. "The Romance of the Rose and Medieval Allegory." In European Writers: The Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Vol. I: Prudentius to Medieval Drama, edited by William T. H. Jackson and George Stade (New York: Scribner's Sons, 1983), pp. 309-335.
Contains a brief section on the Divine Comedy in relation
to the Romance of the Rose, with selected bibliography.
Wilcox, John C. "The Love Poem as Vita nuova in Juan Ramón Jiménez: A Reading of 'Subes de ti misma' (Estio)." In Estudios en honor a Ricardo Gullón, edited by Luis T. Gonzalez-del-Valle and Dario Villanueva (Lincoln, Nebraska: Society of Spanish and Spanish-American Studies, 1984), pp. 369-383.
Contains brief references to Dante's Vita nuova as a source
of inspiration for the love poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez.
The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. [III] Paradiso. A verse translation with introductions and commentary by Allen Mandelbaum. Drawings by Barry Moser. Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: The University of California Press, @1982, 1984. (See Dante Studies, CIII, 140.) Reviewed by:
Donna Mancusi-Ungaro, in Italian Culture, VI (1985), 143-145.
Armour, Peter. The Door of Purgatory: A Study of Multiple Symbolism in Dante's "Purgatorio." Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983. Reviewed by:
Kathleen Verduin, in Christianity & Literature, XXXV,
No. 1 (Fall, 1985), 82-83.
D'Andrea, Antonio. Il nome della storia. Saggi e ricerche di storia e letteratura. Napoli: Liguori, 1982. (See Dante Studies, CI, 197.) Reviewed by:
Ettore Bonora, in Giornale storico della letteratura italiana,
CLXII, Fasc. 517 (1985), 130-133.
Hollander, Robert. Il Virgilio dantesco: Tragedia nella "Commedia." Firenze: Leo S. Olschki Editore, 1983. (See Dante Studies, CII, 156.) Reviewed by:
August Buck, in Deutsches Dante-Jahrbuch, LX (1985), 173-176.
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin