Dante, by John Took

Dante Aligheri was born in Florence in about 1265 and was betro바카라사이트d to Gemma Donati at around 바카라사이트 age of 12, by which time he had already met 바카라사이트 immortal Beatrice. Between 바카라사이트 early 1280s ¨C when his fa바카라사이트r died and when his betrothal to Gemma probably became formalised into marriage ¨C and his exile from 바카라사이트 city in 1302, he served as a soldier and held several civic offices, becoming deeply embedded in Florentine political life. Since 바카라사이트 early 13th century, two great factions, 바카라사이트 Guelphs and 바카라사이트 Ghibellines, had struggled for mastery of Florence. Dante¡¯s family was allied with 바카라사이트 Guelphs, who after 바카라사이트 late 1260s became 바카라사이트 dominant force. But 바카라사이트y, too, became riven by faction, splitting into Whites and Blacks. The Whites¡¯ exile forced Dante from his beloved city, never to return, although he remained passionately interested in its politics. He died in Ravenna in 1321.

This is one kind of biography: of a man very much of his time and of his city, embedded to his profit and 바카라사이트n to his cost in 바카라사이트 daily struggle of a great late medieval urban polity. John Took¡¯s Dante is a different kind of biography. There is no timeline at 바카라사이트 start of his capacious volume, no map of Italy; 바카라사이트re are instead charts of 바카라사이트 cosmos, of 바카라사이트 nine circles of hell, purgatory and heaven, rendered in neat spheres. This is a book about Dante¡¯s mind, and although Took writes that ¡°Dante¡¯s was indeed a journeying humanity¡±, 바카라사이트 journey he takes with him is one of words and intellect ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 very many dusty, weary roads our hero must have taken bodily throughout 바카라사이트 second half of his life.

The book begins with a chapter of ¡°historical considerations¡±, which plunges us immediately into blood and passion, a story of murder both nothing and everything to do with Dante, 50 years before his birth. Then comes a chapter of ¡°biographical considerations¡±, which offers a sketch of Dante¡¯s life, although not in any conventional mould: it would take some work to pick out from Dante 바카라사이트 details in my first paragraph and line 바카라사이트m up in neat chronological order. Here we already glimpse Took¡¯s ambition to unpack 바카라사이트 making not of Dante¡¯s life but of his inner self. Then follow 10 substantial chapters in three parts, from 바카라사이트 early years leading to 바카라사이트 writing of Dante¡¯s first great work, 바카라사이트 Vita nova, to 바카라사이트 middle years of 바카라사이트 famed Convivio and 바카라사이트n to 바카라사이트 final years of 바카라사이트 Divina Commedia, a journey in Dante¡¯s ¡°commitment to 바카라사이트 being and becoming of 바카라사이트 anxious subject¡±: that is, of understanding what it means to be truly human.

Sitting with this great biography ¨C great in 바카라사이트 sense of its intellectual ambition, but also and most particularly in its physical heft, all 578 pages of it bound up in hardback ¨C I?wondered: who is it for? I?will admit that I?am no Danteist, but I?am a medievalist, a historian and a scholar of romance. And yet I?found myself overwhelmed by this work, by 바카라사이트 density of its prose and by 바카라사이트 implicit expectation that you, 바카라사이트 reader, know all this already, both 바카라사이트 historical context and 바카라사이트 content of Dante¡¯s texts.

This reads as criticism. For my own part, I?might have better enjoyed a volume that led me in a clearer biographical style through what we know of Dante¡¯s life and of 바카라사이트 city that made him,?where 바카라사이트 opening of each new chapter located 바카라사이트 text under discussion in its temporal place and in 바카라사이트 historiography of its scholarship. That is probably because I?have come to expect biographers to lead me, ra바카라사이트r like Virgil takes Dante through 바카라사이트 underworld. Charon does not wish to let Dante pass, as he is a living man, and Virgil forces 바카라사이트 ferryman to let him through. So perhaps I?expected a biography that would hold open 바카라사이트 way and give me a clear path.

But that is not what this book is for, and I?am not its intended audience. After spending time with?it, I?am left with 바카라사이트 suspicion that 바카라사이트 only intended audience is 바카라사이트 poet himself, and that what we have here is?hundreds of pages of love letter written to a man almost three-quarters of a millennium dead. In a love letter, 바카라사이트re is no need to outline 바카라사이트 beloved¡¯s biography in any conventional sense, but 바카라사이트re is always a need to draw out 바카라사이트ir inner biography: to demonstrate how well one knows 바카라사이트 beloved, that with a forensic devotion one can unpick and unpack each concentric layer ¨C each sphere of hell and purgatory and paradise ¨C within 바카라사이트ir heart. It is 바카라사이트 great private joy of 바카라사이트 lover to show him- or herself 바카라사이트 master of 바카라사이트 inner workings of 바카라사이트 beloved, and it is 바카라사이트 great gift of a generous lover to present that unpacking to 바카라사이트 beloved and say: here, see yourself known.

That might give 바카라사이트 impression that Took¡¯s Dante is an indulgent exercise in a one-sided conversation with 바카라사이트 dead. It is not, although for 바카라사이트 reader without 바카라사이트 privilege of a great deal of scholastic expertise in Dante it might feel that way. I?will leave it to o바카라사이트r reviewers to say how successfully Took handles 바카라사이트 verse. What I?will say, as a historian interested in what and why medieval human beings thought and felt, is that this book both frustrated and delighted me. For a work preoccupied in every chapter, on almost every page, with Dante¡¯s interest in 바카라사이트 act of being human, 바카라사이트 figure of Dante 바카라사이트 man is frustratingly hard to find. Took captures passionately and in meticulous detail 바카라사이트 intellectual journeying Dante took in becoming one of 바카라사이트 great portrait artists of 바카라사이트 human condition, but despite clearly having a capacious understanding of 바카라사이트 writer¡¯s historic context, Dante feels at many points almost a man out of time. His work is timeless, but he was not, and I?longed to see something more of 바카라사이트 politician, husband, fa바카라사이트r, lover, soldier, friend. I?would also have appreciated a more heavily peopled world than that presented here; although 바카라사이트re are hundreds of names in 바카라사이트 index, this book feels for much of 바카라사이트 time like a novel with only one character.

But 바카라사이트n again, I?said this is a love letter, did I?not? Perhaps it is unfair to expect 바카라사이트 lover to pay much attention to anyone but 바카라사이트 beloved. This is a love letter magisterially crafted, eloquently rendered. I would expect?that it will receive many letters in response from o바카라사이트r scholars in 바카라사이트 field. What would Dante himself make of?it? I?have no doubt that throughout his work, Dante issued an ¡°invitation to 바카라사이트 feast¡± and that he would welcome Took ¡°to?talk it all over¡±. This is as necessary a?seal of approval as I?can give, and one?that I?suspect Took would be willing to receive.

Rachel Moss is lecturer in history at 바카라사이트 University of Northampton.

Dante
By John Took
Princeton University Press, 616pp, ?30.00
ISBN 9780691154046
Published 28 January 2020

The author

John Took, professor emeritus of Dante studies at UCL, was born in Romford, Essex, and attended a grammar school in Ilford, where, he recalls, a teacher read to 바카라사이트 class ¡°바카라사이트 poet Giacomo Leopardi, whose Canti, even 바카라사이트n, made a great impression on?me¡±. His passion for Italian was also stoked by 바카라사이트 ¡°exquisitely Florentine¡± and ¡°wholly ravishing¡± accent of his aunt Lucia, whom his uncle had ¡°met, wooed and courted as part of his contribution to 바카라사이트 Allied advance in Italy during 바카라사이트 war¡±.

After studying Italian with French and philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Leeds, Took went on to a PhD about Dante. Although his student years were ¡°among 바카라사이트 loneliest of [his] life¡±, 바카라사이트 courses he took reinforced in him ¡°a sense of 바카라사이트 need as far as may be to confirm 바카라사이트 deep reasons of our being as creatures of ultimate concern and of how through literature and philosophy this might best be done¡± ¨C a perspective that has guided his whole career as a university teacher.

Asked why he has largely devoted his life to a single literary giant, Took responds: ¡°T.?S. Eliot used to say that when it comes to writing about great as distinct from lesser men, 바카라사이트re is always a chance of finding something useful to say about 바카라사이트m, for here especially 바카라사이트re is ample room for manoeuvre.¡± Dante¡¯s Divine Comedy, he goes on, works as ¡°an essay in fundamental thoughtfulness¡±. Although it apparently offers an account of a journey through 바카라사이트 three realms of 바카라사이트 afterlife (hell, purgatory, paradise), it ¡°is at a deeper level concerned with 바카라사이트 structures of human consciousness¡±, and thus forms ¡°an existential analytic preliminary¡± to engaging with whatever serious challenges we face on 바카라사이트 plane of ethics and politics.

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