Dante and the OrientUniversity of Illinois Press, 2002 - 160 pages Probing Dante's knowledge of empirical geography, use of crusade rhetoric, and fascination with the world beyond European borders, Brenda Deen Schildgen offers an alluring new perspective on Dante's utopian imagination, political motivations, and literary intentions in the Commedia and other works. In the meticulously researched Dante and the Orient, Schildgen argues that Dante's treatment of the East enabled him to use the rhetoric employed in crusade narratives and other travel literature to oppose the military and polemic goals of the Crusades and to plead for the reformation of both church and state. Schildgen asserts Dante's knowledge of the East by detailing his grasp of empirical geography and mapmaking, which were consistent with the current theories of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. But Dante thwarts cartographical traditions and the conventions of the crusade narrative by substituting a metaphorical journey for a literal pilgrimage, thereby shifting the emphasis away from the material sight of scriptural places used in other crusade and pilgrimage narratives. Blending sound historical research with innovative contemporary thought, Schildgen illustrates how Dante's unique adoption of crusade rhetoric grants him the role of prophet. Mindful of the lands beyond European borders--but without "orientalizing" or "exoticizing" them--he questions the concept of salvation outside Christian lands and launches a fiery poetic missive at a crisis-ridden and decadent Latin world that does not live up to its proclaimed ideals. In Dante's keen regard for the East, its wonders become symbols for the grandeur of God and the beauty of the divine realm. |
Contents
Dantes Geography | 19 |
The East in the Latin World | 45 |
Dante and the Holy Land Crusade | 66 |
The Salvation of Pagans | 92 |
Dante and the Wonders | 110 |
135 | |
155 | |
Common terms and phrases
Albert Alexander Alexander's Aliscans Arabic argues Augustine Augustine's Averroism Beatrice Bernard biblical Bonaventure Bonaventurian Brunetto Brunetto Latini Cacciaguida canto century Christ Christian Cité de Dieu Convivio Cristo crusade and pilgrimage crusade narratives cultural Dante Dante's Dante's Commedia discussion divine earth East Europe European example Florence Folco Francis geography geopolitical God's griffin Heaven Hell Hexaëmeron Holy Land Hugh of Saint-Victor human idea imperial India Indus Inferno intellectual Isidore of Seville Islam Italy Jacques de Vitry Jerusalem journey knowledge Latin mappaemundi maraviglia marvels Mazzotta Medieval metaphor Michael Scot Middle Ages milizia mirabile miracles Monarchia monstrous races Muhammad Natura Loci nature Orient Orosius papacy papal Paradiso Paris pilgrim Pliny poem poet poetic political pope Purg Purgatorio Quaestio refers Roman Empire Rome salvation Second Crusade Semiramis space specifically Speculum stones sunt symbolic temporal terra theology theory tradition Trans University Press Vincent of Beauvais vision William of Tyre wonders zone