Lives: Dante

Lives: Dante

by R.W.B.Lewis (Author)

Synopsis

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265. In 1309 he was banished from his birthplace for political reasons, and sentenced to death in his absence. From then on he led a wanderer's life in Verona and Tuscany, eventually settling in Ravenna where he was buried on his death in 1321. His most celebrated work is the DIVINA COMMEDIA which he began in 1307. It is his spiritual odyssey through Hell and Purgatory, guided by Virgil, and finally to Paradise, guided by Beatrice. It gives an encyclopaedic knowledge of the age, all expressed in the most exquisite poetry. The DIVINA COMMEDIA, which Dante began in Latin, established Italian as a literary language. Dante also completed other important canzoni or short poems, eclogues, and an unfinished work, DE VULGARI ELOQUENTIA, discussing the origin of the language, the divisions of language and the dialect of Italian in particular.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Phoenix
Published: 10 Jan 2002

ISBN 10: 075381319X
ISBN 13: 9780753813195
Book Overview: An elegant and succinct biography R. W. B. Lewis is a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award winner Reviewers on AMERICAN CHARACTERS: 'This is a book you can get lost in for hours. Even the notes on the portraits and the commentary make fascinating reading' THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW IN THE CITY OF FLORENCE: 'A delightfully personal and learned look at the Tuscan city of Florence, encompassing its cultural, civic and artistic legacy from the Middle Ages to the present' BOOK NEWS

Author Bio
R. W. B. Lewis is a professor in the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is the author of Edith Wharton, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, and of the James family, among other books. He lives much of the year in Florence, and the rest in Bethany, Connecticut.