Dante's Interpretive JourneyUniversity of Chicago Press, 1996 M04 15 - 250 pages Critically engaging the thought of Heidegger, Gadamer, and others, William Franke contributes both to the criticism of Dante's Divine Comedy and to the theory of interpretation. Reading the poem through the lens of hermeneutical theory, Franke focuses particularly on Dante's address to the reader as the site of a disclosure of truth. The event of the poem for its reader becomes potentially an experience of truth both human and divine. While contemporary criticism has concentrated on the historical character of Dante's poem, often insisting on it as undermining the poem's claims to transcendence, Franke argues that precisely the poem's historicity forms the ground for its mediation of a religious revelation. Dante's dramatization, on an epic scale, of the act of interpretation itself participates in the self-manifestation of the Word in poetic form. Dante's Interpretive Journey is an indispensable addition to the field of Dante studies and offers rich insights for philosophy and theology as well. |
Contents
Truth and Interpretation in the Divine comedy | 1 |
CHAPTER ONE The Address to the Reader | 37 |
lnferno IX | 82 |
CHAPTER THREE The Temporality of Conversion | 119 |
CHAPTER FOUR The Making of History | 152 |
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Common terms and phrases
actually Aeneid allegory Allen Mandelbaum apostrophe Auerbach Barolini become Canto Christ Christian claim classical Commedia constitutes criticism culture Dante Dante's address Dante's poem Dasein deconstruction disclosed disclosure discourse Divine Comedy eternal event exegetical existence existential experience fact faith fiction figure Freccero fundamentally Gadamer Geryon happening Heidegger Heidegger's Hell herme hermeneutic historical human Inferno insight interpretation intrinsic journey knowledge language literal literary Malebolge Martin Heidegger Mazzotta meaning mediation medieval metaphysical modern myth narrative neutic object ontological original pagan Paradiso past Paul Ricoeur perspective Petrarch phenomenon philology philosophical poem's poet poetry possible precisely present prophetic protagonist Purgatorio question reader reading reality relation religious repetition representation represents resurrection revealed rhetorical Rudolph Bultmann Scripture sense significance Singleton sort specifically Statius Statius's structure temporality textual theological theory things tion tradition transcendent true truth Truth and Method understanding understood University Press Virgil vision whole words writing XXII