Classics, Medieval & Renaissance 2012 - University of Toronto ...

LITERATURE
The Poetics of Dante’s Paradiso
Massimo Verdicchio
Traditional readings of Dante’s Paradiso have largely
considered this third cantica of the Commedia as
a poem apart. It deals with those blessed souls in
Paradise who are free of sin and beyond punishment,
in contrast to the sinners in the previous two
cantica, and is thus no longer based on the principle
of contrapasso. At the literal level this is true in that
all the characters one encounters are either those
who have been saved, religious leaders, or saints.
However, at the allegorical level, as Massimo
Verdicchio argues, the blessed souls still have something
to hide, something shameful in their past
earthly life, which is revealed nonetheless. Verdicchio’s
highly original and comprehensive reading demonstrates
that the intricacies of Dante’s text reveal
subversive undercurrents and a subtle irony,
employed to deliver a critique of the Church and
Empire of his own time.
Massimo Verdicchio is a professor in the Department
of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at
the University of Alberta.
‘Rooted in a close analysis of the poem, Massimo
Verdicchio’s intelligent interpretation is supported by
relevant textual evidence and provides an important
counterpoint to the canonical readings of the cantica.’
Lloyd H. Howard, University of Victoria
(Toronto Italian Studies)
192 pp / 6 x 9 / 2010
Cloth 978-1-4426-4119-8 $45.00 (£31.99)
Building a Monument to Dante
Boccaccio as Dantista
Jason M. Houston
The shadow of Dante Alighieri looms large in the
works of Giovanni Boccaccio, yet the full extent of
Boccaccio’s relationship to Dante remains largely
unexplored. Building a Monument to Dante employs
literary analysis coupled with philological and historical
evidence to argue that Boccaccio’s multifaceted
work as Dante’s editor, biographer, apologist, and
commentator created a literary figure that could
support Boccaccio’s poetic and political ideologies.
Jason M. Houston finds in Boccaccio’s biographical
writings a strong condemnation of Florentine politics
and a harsh critique of Petrarch’s political isolation,
distinguishing Boccaccio’s political and intellectual
positions from those of both Dante and Petrarch.
Jason M. Houston is an assistant professor in the
Department of Modern Languages at the University
of Oklahoma.
‘Building a Monument to Dante successfully tackles
the topic of Boccaccio’s life-long interest in Dante
from a novel point of view, interrogating the many
facets of Boccaccio’s activity as dantista along new
lines.’
Simone Marchesi, Princeton University
(Toronto Italian Studies)
272 pp / 8 illustrations / 6 x 9 / 2010
Cloth 978-1-4426-4051-1 $55.00 (£38.99)
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