Dante's Epistle to Cangrande

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University of Michigan Press, 1993 - 113 pages
Dante's epistle to Can Grande de la Scala seemingly provides keys to the Divine Comedy; hence it has posed awkward problems for many students of the poet. On one hand, those who discount "authorial intention" are confronted with Dante's own reading of his poem, an apparently explicit statement of his intentions. On the other, the epistle offers information on how to interpret the poem's allegorical elements, which are at odds with modern sensibilities.

In Dante's Epistle to Cangrande Robert Hollander commandingly marshals new evidence to demonstrate that the epistle should be considered authentically Dantean. He further provides enlightening discussion of the nature of tragedy and comedy in the Divine Comedy. The author draws authoritatively on the extensive array of medieval and modern commentaries stored in electronic form by the Dartmouth Dante Project, of which he is the director.

Dante's Epistle to Cangrande makes a signal contribution to Dante studies. Naturally of interest to students of Dante's work, it will also be important reading for those concerned with literary critical questions such as authorial intent, programmatic statements, and allegorical interpretations of literature.
 

Contents

Introduction
1
Brugnolis Edition 1979
7
The Evidence Offered
23
Kelly 1989 and the Falsario
55
Barańskis Article 1991
75
Further Evidence from the Early
97
Works Consulted
103
Copyright

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About the author (1993)

Robert Hollander is the author of a dozen monographs, editions, and translations and some six dozen articles on Dante, Boccaccio, and other writers. A member of Princeton's Department of Romance Languages and the former chairman of its Department of Comparative Literature, he has received the Gold Medal of the city of Florence in recognition of his Dante scholarship.

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