Dante: The Divine Comedy

In this accessible introduction to Dante's Divine Comedy Kirkpatrick principally focuses on Dante as a poet and storyteller.

Robin Kirkpatrick (Author)

9780521539944, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 19 January 2004

130 pages
19.8 x 12.9 x 0.9 cm, 0.143 kg

In this accessible critical introduction to Dante's Divine Comedy Robin Kirkpatrick principally focuses on Dante as a poet and storyteller. He addresses important questions such as Dante's attitude towards Virgil, and demonstrates how an early work such as the Vita nuova is a principal source of the literary achievement of the Comedy. His detailed reading reveals how the great narrative poem explores the relationship that Dante believed to exist between God as creator of the universe and the human being as a creature of God. In addition, Kirkpatrick takes due account of the historical and philosophical dimensions of the poem.

List of abbreviations
Chronology
1. Change, vision and language: the early works and Inferno Canto Two
3. The Divine Comedy
4. After Dante
Guide to further reading.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]