American Dante Bibliography for 1967
ANTHONY L. PELLEGRINI
[Originally published in Dante Studies, vol. 86 (1968)]
This bibliography is intended to include the Dante translations published in this country in 1967, and all Dante studies and reviews published in 1967 that are in any sense American. The latter criterion is construed to include foreign reviews of Dante publications by Americans. The listing of reviews in general is selective, particularly in the case of studies bearing only peripherally on Dante.
Items not recorded in the bibliographies for previous years are entered
as addenda to the present list.
NOTE. The citation of an individual study from a collected volume representing
several authors is given in brief, while the main entry of the volume is
listed fully m its normal alphabetical order. Issues of this journal under
the former title of Annual Report of the Dante Society continue
to be cited in the short form of Report, with volume number.
Translations
Dante's Inferno: Bilingual edition. With Translations Broadcast in the BBC Third Programme. Edited by Terence Tiller. New York: Schocken Books. 315 p. 23.5 cm. [1967]
A "composite version," by twelve translators who have rendered
two or three cantos each, in terza rima (the most favored form), defective
or approximate terza rima, unrhymed hexameters, alliterative unrhymed verse,
or blank verse. The translations were originally presented on the British
Broadcasting Corporation's Third Programme in two series, each comprising
twelve readings of new translations of the Divine Comedy, during
1964 and 1965. A British edition appeared as Dante's Inferno, with translations
broadcast in the B.B.C. Third Programme (London: British Broadcasting
Corporation, 1966). Italian and English texts on facing pages.
["Brunetto Latini--Canto XV of Dante's Inferno."] Translated by Robert Lowell. In his Near the Ocean (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux), pp. 109-116. [1967]
Rendered in iambic pentameter, with the first and third verse of each
tercet in rhyme or approximate rhyme. Illustrated with line drawings by
Sidney Nolan. For reviews, see below, under Reviews.
[Tenzone with Forese Donati] Translated by Elizabeth Bartlett and Antonio Illiano. In Italica, XLIV (Sept.) 282-290 (pp. 287-290). [1967]
Appended at the end of the article, "Dante's Tenzone,"
by the translators (see below, under Studies), are Dante's three
sonnets, along with the responses by Forese, translated in the original
rhyme-scheme.
[Selected poems.] In An Anthology of Italian Poems. 13th-19th Century. Selected and translated by Lorna De' Lucchi, with a preface by Professor Cesare Foligno. New York: Biblo and Tannen. xxiii, 359 p. 19 cm. [1967]
Contains three canzoni and eight sonnets from the Vita Nuova
and two sonnets from the Rime, with the Italian text and
English translation on facing pages. The versions are in verse, approximating
the rhyme-schemes of the original. The volume is reprinted from the
1924 edition (New York: Alfred A. Knopf).
Studies
[Anon.] "Inventive Illustration and Design in a New Edition of the Divine Comedy." In Publishers' Weekly, CXCI, No. I (Jan. 2), 84-85. [1967]
Description and discussion of Louis Biancolli's new translation of the
Comedy (New York: Washington Square Press, 1966; see Dante Studies,
LXXXV, 96) as an example of technical problems to be faced in the illustration
and design of such an oft-printed classic.
Andreach, Robert J. "O'Neill's Use of Dante in The Fountain and The Hairy Ape." In Modern Drama, X (May), 48-56. [1967]
Contends that O'Neill knew and used the Comedy, as evinced in
these plays by a number of Dantean echoes and inverse parallels from the
Edenic scene in Purg. XXVIII-XXXIII and the spiritual journey of
the Paradiso.
Arcudi, Bruno A. "Alessandro Tassoni Comments on Canto XII of the Inferno." In Symposium, XXI (Fall), 222-230. [1967]
Assays Tassoni's hostile attitude towards Dante in his Ragionamento
di Alessandro Tassoni intorno ad alcune cose notate nel XII dell'Inferno
di Dante (1597), which was designed to defend Alexander the Great and
Obizzo II d'Este, an ancestor of his own patron, Don Alessandro, against
the censures of Dante (Inf. XII, 103-114) and Landino.
Armstrong, Edward. Italian Studies. Edited by Cecilia M. Ady. Freeport, N. Y.: Books for Libraries Press. xx, 344 p. 22 cm. (Essay Index Reprint Series.) [1967]
Contains five Dantean pieces: "Dante: In Memoriam" (pp. 3-21),
in commemoration of the 1921 centenary; "Dante's Political Ideal"
(pp. 22-25), on the De Monarchia; "The Influence of the
De Monarchia upon Later Political Thought" (pp. 56-92),
with attention to Marsilius of Padua, Bartolus of Sassoferrato, Rienzi,
and Petrarch as points of comparison; "Dante in Relation to the Sports
and Pastimes of His Age" (pp. 93-123), in which is stressed the
dearth of references to such things in the poet's works; "Two Florentine
Tragedies: Dante and Savonarola" (pp. 124-164), of which the section
on "Dante" (pp. 125-143) deals with the poet's exile, its
causes and effect. This collection of studies was first published posthumously
in 1934 (Macmillan and Company, Limited). The original provenance of each
piece is duly indicated. Indexed.
Artinian, Robert. "Dante's Parody of Boniface VIII." In Dante Studies, LXXXV, 71-74. [1967]
Despite his antipathy for Boniface VIII, Dante always distinguishes
between the man and the papal office. This explains the poet's scandalized
reaction to the capture of the pope at Anagni by agents of Philip IV in
Purg. xx, 85-93, where he even pays a certain tribute to Boniface
by clearly echoing a fourteen-line prayer written by him, here reproduced
by Professor Artinian for comparison.
Auerbach, Erich. "Dante's Addresses to the Reader." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 37-51. [1967]
Reprinted from Romance Philology, VII (1954), 268-278. (See
73rd Report, 55.)
Auerbach, Erich. "Typological Symbolism in Medieval Literature." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 104-113. [1967]
Using as point of departure the tradition of scriptural typology as
exemplified in the Book of Joshua, the author discusses medieval figuralism
in general and explains Dante's specific treatment of Rahab (Par. IX,
109-126) as a figura Ecclesiae. Reprinted from Yale French
Studies, IX (1952), 3-10.
Bartlett, Elizabeth, and Antonio Illiano. "Dante's Tenzone." In Italica, XLIV (Sept.), pp. 282-290. [1967]
Contrary to critics who find the tenzone with Forese vulgar and
unworthy, the authors contend that the three youthful sonnets by Dante
are entirely consistent with the moral stance of the Commedia. Includes
a new translation of the exchange (see above, under Translations).
Bergin, Thomas G. "Dante Shelf." In Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter), 89-108. [1967]
Omnibus review of several works separately listed below, under Reviews:
Foster and Boyde, Dante's Lyric Poetry; Dantis Alagherii Epistolae;
Centenary Essays on Dante; Limentani, ed., The Mind of Dante; Chandler
and Molinaro, eds., The World of Dante, De Sua and Rizzo, eds.,
A Dante Symposium; Chubb, Dante and His World; Cunningham
The Divine Comedy in English; Lagercrantz, From Hell to Paradise.
Bergin, Thomas G. "On the Personae of the Comedy." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, 117-124. [1967]
Reprinted from Italica, XLII (1965), 1-7; also, Parola del popolo, XVI, No. 76 (1965), 66-68. (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 77.)
Bergin, Thomas G. Perspectives on the Divine Comedy. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. x, 115 p. I9.5 cm. [1967]
A comprehensive consideration of Dante and his Comedy cast in
three essays: (1) "Ingredients and Proportion: The World ofthe Comedy"
(pp. 3-36), concerned with the cosmic setting of the poem, similarities
and differences among the three realms, and the poet's corresponding modulation
of language, style, and rhyme groups; (2) "Themes and Variations:
The Design of the Comedy" (pp. 37-70), focusing on the poetic
manipulation of material m terms of character presentation and action,
rhetorical devices religious and ethical considerations, and the theme
of love; and (3) "Whose Dante? Which Comedy?" (pp. 71-104),
containing a discussion of the multifarious aspects of Dante as man, statesman,
roisterer, lover, scholar, philosopher, family man, etc., and his Comedy
as first-person narrative, historical document, tract, allegory,
medieval summation and transcendent poem. The essays were originally delivered
as the Queens Lectures at Rutgers University in the fall of 1965.
Bergin, Thomas G., ed. From Time to Eternity: Essays on Dante's "Divine Comedy." New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ix, 175 p. 21 cm. [1967]
Six essays by Sapegno, Morgen, Petrocchi, Foster, Greene, and Scaglione,
delivered at Yale University, October 1965, in commemoration of the 700th
anniversary of Dante's birth. The first three papers, originally given
in Italian, have been Englished by Mary Ann Rizzo. Indexed. The papers
are separately listed in this bibliography.
Bernardo, Aldo S., and Anthony L. Pellegrini. Key-Indexed Study Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy. Philadelphia: Educational Research Associates, Inc. of America, in association with Bantam Books, Inc., New York. 178 p. illus., charts, diagrs. 20.5 cm. (Pennant Key-Indexed Study Guides, 130.) [1967]
Introduction to the Divine Comedy cast under the following major
headings: Visual Aids (Dante's Universe, Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso,
and a chart of time references to the pilgrim's journey); Dante Alighieri--Life
and Works; Background; Capsule Summary, Comprehensive Summary, Canto-by-Canto
(with integrated commentary); Critical Analysis; Character Analysis; Study
Questions; Research Areas; Bibliography; Glossary-Index. (This is a
preliminary edition; a revised version with added features is scheduled
for 1968.)
Berrigan, Joseph R. "Vinculum Pacis: Vergil and Dante." In Classical Bulletin, XLIII (Feb.), 49-53. [1967]
Stresses the profound significance of Virgil for Dante based on their
common ideal of "peace," which Virgil sought in earthly terms,
Dante in earthly and supernatural terms.
Borgese, Giuseppe Antonio. "The Wrath of Dante." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 158-173. [1967]
Contends that the Filippo Argenti episode points to a temporal gap in composition
between Cantos VII and VIII of Inferno, marking a mental conversion
and a transition from Dante's youthful style to poetic maturity. The episode
is the first manifestation of Dante's anger, which reappears continually
after Inf. VIII and, according to Professor Borgese, cannot be justified
philosophically or theologically and is contrary to classical tradition.
External biographical evidence may explain this; for example, there is
the possibility that Dante gives vent here to a repressed anger from his
youth. Reprinted] from Speculum, XIII (1938), 183-193; also
appeared in Italian translation, "L'ira di Dante," in Borgese,
Da Dante a Thomas Mann, a cura di Giulio Vallese (Milano: Mondadori,
1958). (See 77th Report, 43.)
Bullaro, John J. "The Dante of T. S. Eliot." In Scotian, ed., A Dante Profile, pp. 27-37. [1967]
Going beyond the usual drawing of surface parallels in Eliot and Dante,
the author investigates the more "intimate" and creative Dantean
influence on Eliot by a close analysis of the latter's two famous essays
on Dante of 1920 and 1929 and by an examination of the Dantean element
in his own poetry (Ash Wednesday, Four Quartets, and The Waste
Land). Eliot demonstrated in his essays, and eventually reflected in
his poems how Dante combined the philosophic and poetic elements "by
using an allegorical method that presented clear visual images in a pattern
of emotional states, from which the Commedia derived its form."
Carozza, Davy. "Elements of the roman courtois in the Episode of Paolo and Francesca (Inferno V)." In Papers on Language and Literature, III (Fall), 291-301. [1967]
Points out the several elements from French courtly literature that
Dante skillfully employs to create an oasis in this circle of hell--the
general tone of courtoisie, the contractual idea of vassalage and
peace carried over into the love relation, responsiveness to the misfortune
of others, erotic fatalism with its exigence of mutuality, hesitation and
trepidation in revealing the pent-up passion, the instrumentality of
the smile and the medium of the eyes. This atmosphere of courtoisie,
pitié and débonaireté and further elements
of the stil nuovo, are seen by Professor Carozza as deliberately
intended by Dante to underscore, by their condemnation, the fact that neither
courtly love nor stil nuovo can lead to God, that neither can help
the pilgrim to find the right way that is lost.
Cioffari, Vincenzo. "The Importance of the Guido da Pisa Commentary on the Inferno. In Dante Studies, LXXXV, 1-13. [1967]
Presents a detailed descriptive analysis of Guido's work in its historical
context, with a sampling of his commentary and a discussion of its critical
significance. The author concludes that this commentary marks the gradual
transition in focus from literal to allegorical meaning in Dante's poem.
The first printed edition of Guido's commentary, by Professor Cioffari
and Francesco Mazzoni, is imminent.
Clements, Robert J. "Dante after Seven Centuries." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 223-253. [1967]
Reprinted here in translation from the original Italian address "Dante
nel mondo," delivered at Ravenna, April 27, 1965, in celebration of
the Dante centenary, and published in Atti del Congresso Internazionale
di Studi Danteschi . . . (20-27 aprile 1905), Vol. II (Firenze: Sansoni,
1966), pp. 407-431. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 100.)
Clements, Robert J., ed., American Critical Essays on the Divine Comedy. New York: New York University Press; London: University of London Press. x, 253 p. 21.5 cm. clothbound 21 cm. paper. (The Gotham Library.) [1967]
Sixteen essays by Auerbach (2), Bergin, Borgese, Clements, Gilbert,
Hatzfeld (2), Mazzeo, Silverstein, Singleton, Speroni, Tatlock, and Wilkins
(3); separately listed in thus bibliography.
Consoli, Domenico. "Come leggere Dante: recenti proposte della critica italiana." In Dante Studies, LXXXV, 75-83. [1967]
While recognizing the significant contribution of certain American students
of Dante, for example, in matters of allegory and symbolism, the author
focuses his attention on the divers critical stances assumed in their more
recent work by such Italian critics as Montano, Toffanin, Sanguineti, Contini,
Garboli, Pasolini (with the response by Segre), and Bosco.
The Criterion (London, I-XVIII, Nos. 1-71 (October 1922-January 1939). Reprinted in a "Collected Edition." [London:] Faber and Faber, and [New York:] Barnes and Noble. 8 v. 23 cm. [1967]
It will be of interest to scholars that this famous quarterly renew
edited by T. S. Eliot is now more readily available in this reprint edition.
A number of pieces of Dantean interest were published in The Criterion:--Benedetto
Croce, "On the Nature of Allegory" (III [April 1925], 405-412),
in which Croce defends his position on allegory against those hostile to
his Poesia di Dante; Mario Praz, "Chaucer and the Great Italian
Writers of the Trecento" (VI [July 1927], 18-39, 131-157,
and 238-242), with much space devoted to Dante; F. McEachran, "The
Tragic Element in Dante's Commedia" (VIII [Dec. 1928], 220-237),
treating the Inferno as supreme human tragedy, not in Aristotelian
terms, but in terms of eternal alienation from God; Ezra Pound, "Hell"
(XIII [April 1934], 382-396), a review-article on Laurence Binyon's
translation of the Inferno, with many observations on rendering
certain words and phrases; and reviews of Gertrude Leigh, New Light
on the Youth of Dante (London, 1929), reviewed by C. Dawson (IX [July
1930], 718-722); Carl Vossler, Mediaeval Culture, trans. Lawton
(London, 1929), rev'd by C. Dawson (IX [July 1930], 718-722); and Pierre
Mandonnet, Dante le théologien (Paris, 1935), anonymously
reviewed (XV [July 1936], 758).
Cuadra, Pablo Antonio. "Dante Discovers America." In Américas (Washington, D C.), XIX, No. 3 (February), 32-39. Also, in Spanish in the March issue of the Spanish edition, same volume, fascicule, and page numbers. [1967]
A meditation on Dante's poetic-prophetic discovery of America evinced
by the Ulysses episode, the shore of Purgatory, amd the Earthly Paradise,
with relationships drawn with Bolívar's conception of the New
World. Includes four Doré illustrations.
Cunningham, Gilbert F. The Divine Comedy in English: A Critical Bibliography, 1901-1966. New York: Barnes and Noble. Same as the British edition: Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd. xii, (I), 290 p. 23 cm. [1967]
Continuation of the previous volume for the period 1782-1900 (see Dante Studies, LXXXlV, 82, and LXXXV, 115), with an account of the translations classified by types, a biographical sketch of each translator, and three tables--Chronological List of Translators, Formal Analysis of Translations, and British and American Translators. There is a useful bibliographical listing of the translations, pp. 281-286. From the author s statistics it is interesting to note that our own century to date has seen more English versions of cantiche of Dante's poem than the previous 118 years by 102 to 81. Moreover, twentieth-century translators have shown a marked preference for rendering m terza rima.
Damon, Phillip. "Geryon, Cacciaguida, and the Y of Pythagoras." In Dante Studies, LXXXV, 15-32. [1967]
Argues that Dante's presentation of his poetic journey as an analogy of Aeneas' journey in Hades by a catenary treatment of fractioned and separated evocations introduces a thematically active analogue of the paradox of the wayfarer's upward way having to be downward. The author examines many elements of mythic tradition, classical, Celtic, and Indian, pertaining, for example, to the Pythagorean Y of the way to virtue, Phaeton and the Milky Way, and Geryon, as well as the details of Virgil's account of Aeneas in Hades, the latter's placement of the golden bough at the triodos and his encounter with his father, Anchises. Focusing on the Geryon (Inf. XVI) and Cacciaguida (Par. XVI) episodes and other points in the Commedia, such as Nicholas' and Satan's inverted position in Inf. XIX and XXXIV, respectively, the girding of the rush in Purg. I, and the inverted tree m Purg. XXII, the author shows how in a catenary way Dante has managed effectively to evoke all these mythological associations to achieve the right path of Christian virtue poetized by the Commedia.
Davis, Charles T. "Brunetto Latini and Dante." In Studi medievali 3a Serie VIII, No. I, pp. 421-450. [1967]
Investigates the preparation and originality of Brunetto, whose achievement,
despite Florence's lag in education, made him, in his emulation of Cicero,
the leading dittatore or rhetorician, of his commune. Although it
is still matter for speculation whether Brunetto was actually Dante's teacher
and whether the Trésor inspired the writing of the Convivio,
Dante seems much indebted to Brunetto for his conception of nobility
as dependent not on birth or wealth, but on virtue, and especially for
the Ciceronian association of rhetoric in the service of politics for persuading
men to renounce evil and follow good--the essential purpose of the
Commedia, according to the Letter to Can Grande. Finally, Professor
Davis cites the symmetrical pattern in the poem's architecture of locating
Brunetto, Marco Lombardo, and Cacciaguida at the center of the Inferno,
Purgatorio, and Paradiso, respectively. Thus, in these central
areas appear spokesmen for one of Dante's central messages: the corruption
of political society and the need for reform.
Della Terza, Dante. "Two Recent Books on Dante: A Discussion." In Dante Studies LXXXV, 85-94. [1967]
Review-article on The World of Dante: Six Studies in Language
and Thought, ed. S. Bernard Chandler and J. A. Molinaro (Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 1966) and From Time to Eternity: Essays on Dante's
Divine Comedy, ed. Thomas G. Bergin (New Haven and London: Yale University
Press, 1967). For the first, see Dante Studies LXXXV, 98-99, and
see below under Reviews and under Addenda--Reviews; for the second
see the main section of the bibliography, under Bergin.
Donno, Daniel J. "Recent Scholarship on Dante." In Renaissance Quarterly, XX (Summer), 273-278. [1967]
Briefly reviews recent contributions to Dante scholarship generally since Croce's position of 1921 and especially in the septicentenary year, with critical comments on a selected number of publications.
Ferrante, Joan M. "Malebolge (Inf. XVIII-XXX) as the Key to the Structure of Dante's Inferno." In Romance Philology, XX (May), 456-466. [1967]
Contends that Dante follows no previous grouping of sins
and analyzes the penal system of the Inferno in terms of five major
groups, with each subdivided in five types of sinner, based on the pattern
of sins in Malebolge in relation to the sins of other circles and to corresponding
virtues in the Paradiso. The author notes, furthermore an intensification
of evil from first to fifth in each group. Includes a chart of her analysis.
Fogle, Richard Harter. "Dante and Shelley's Adonais." In Bucknell Review, XV, No. 3 (Dec.), 11-21. [1967]
Offers an interpretation of Shelley's Adonais, citing parallels
of concept and imagery, especially as evinced in the Paradiso. While
both poets are considered visionaries, Dante's poem appears epic and hierarchical,
Shelley's lyrical-dramatic and dialectical.
Foster, Kenelm, O. P. "Dante's Idea of Love." In Bergin, ed., From Time to Eternity, pp. 65-101. [1967]
Presents a detailed philosophico-metaphysical exposition of the
nature and workings of human love in Dante as reflected in the Convivio
and certain of the Rime as well as in the Commedia, noting
the poet's self-corrections and his deepening understanding of love
in all its manifestations, including the sexual, and its complex relation
to God, to free will, and to Christian morality. The author closes with
a discussion of the distortions of love as error, sensuality, and enslavement.
Fucilla, Joseph G., and Remigio Pane, compilers.] "Italian Language and Literature." [Section of the "1966 MLA International Bibliography"] In PMLA, LXXXII, No. 3 [1967]
(June), 251-280.
The Dante items are recorded in entries 11612-12067.
Gilbert, Allan H. "Dante's Hundred Cantos." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, [1967]
Reprinted from Italica, XL (1963), 99-107. (See 82nd Report,
51.)
Gilbert, Allan H. "Dante's Rimario." In Italica, XLIV (Dec.), 409-424. [1967]
A statistical analysis of Dante's use of words in rhyme and his placement
of noun and adjective, and an examination, in the light of this study,
of a number of difficult passages in the Commedia aimed at resolving
certain difficulties in textual reading or interpretation.
Goodrich, Norma L. "The Vita Nuova and Commentary." In Schettino, ed., A Dante Profile, pp. 5-14. [1967]
Comments appreciatively on the Vita Nuova, emphasizing the perpetual
freshness of this masterpiece, setting it in its cultural context, discussing
its structure, themes, and two major characters, citing recent critical
perspectives (e.g., Singleton's) on the work, and relating certain of its
aspects to contemporary fiction.
Greene, Thomas M. "Dramas of Selfhood in the Comedy." In Bergin, ed., From Time to Eternity, pp. 103-136. [1967]
Examines "the peculiar ontology of those souls whom Dante encounters
in the course of his pilgrimage" and discerns in each figure a kind
of drama based on the paradox of his otherworldly being, i.e., that both
is and is not his earthly self. Professor Greene differs with the essentially
static view of Dante's souls after death put forth by Hegel and Auerbach.
For in the after life each soul acquires in all three cantiche a
new property of "retrospective vision," which dramatically enhances
his sense of identity. Selfhood is found to be fixed in Inferno, refined
in the Purgatorio, and "transhumanized" (therefore actualized)
m Paradiso. The author probes the "ambivalent" nature
of the narrative in the poem, viz., a static depiction of the state of
souls after death contrasting with a dynamic representation of the wayfarer's
progressive redemption. He illustrates his thesis with such figures as
Capaneus, Farinata, Pier della Vigna, Brunetto Latini, Guido da Montefeltro,
Manfred, Arnaut Daniel, Virgil himself, Cacciaguida.
Hatzfeld, Helmut. "The Art of Dante's Purgatorio." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 64-88. [1967]
Shows how the poet has created a humane myth characterized by a magical
realism for organically recapturing in poetic terms the various elements
of theology and liturgy, along with landscape, characters, situations,
and action. Reprinted from Studies in Philology, XLIX (1952), 25-47.
Hatzfeld, Helmut. "Dante Studies from Oxford, Cambridge and Nottingham." In Forum for Modern Language Studies, III, 61-66. [1967]
Omnibus review. See below, under Reviews: Centenary Essays on
Dante; U. Limentani ed., The Mind of Dante; and Nottingham Mediaeval
Studies (Dante Centenary Number), IX (1965), 1-70.
Hatzfeld, Helmut. "Modern Literary Scholarship as Reflected in Dante Criticism." In Clements ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 195-219. [1967]
Surveys the significant course of Dante studies between 1921 and 1950,
marked by an increasing shift from background considerations to a concern
with the poetry and structure of the Commedia itself, Dante's symbolism,
and the role of the key figures Beatrice and Virgil; and evaluates the
contributions of such critics as Vossler, Croce Barbi, Singleton, Spoerri,
Spitzer, Whitfield, Olivero, etc. Reprinted from Comparative Literature,
III (1951), 289-309.
Hill, Thomas D. "Dante's Palm: Purgatorio XXII, 130-135." In Modern Language Notes, LXXXII, No. I (Jan.), 103-105. [1967]
Points out a close correspondence between Dante's "inverted tree"
in this passage and the palm as conceived in shape and meaning by medieval
exegetes, particularly Gregory in his Moralia on the Book of Job
in terms of the Christian ascent from earthly corruption to heavenly glory.
Lancaster, C. Maxwell. "Dehumanization and Human Error: An About Face from Moravia to Dante." In Forum Italicum, I (Jan.-March), 16-21. [1967]
A meditation on the belief in man as an end, not a means, examined first
in Moravia and followed back to Dante.
Locke, Frederick W. "Dante's Miraculous Enneads." In Dante Studies, LXXXV, 59-70. [1967]
Contends that in Inf. X, 63, Christ must be construed in the
dative to refer to Beatrice in her analogical meaning as Christ established
by the Vita Nuova. Along with this verse which is a 9--6+3, Professor
Locke discovers eight additional verses in the Commedia for a total
of nine, in which Beatrice is referred to either by name or by description
and whose digits add up to a Nine, thus continuing the association with
this miraculous number claimed for her in the libello.
Locke, Frederick W. "The Metamorphoses of Jean-Baptiste Clamence." In Symposium, XXI (Winter), 306-315. [1967]
Includes an elaboration of previously determined literary parallels
between Camus's La chute and Dante's Inferno, relating the
gm mill Mexico-City to the very pit, Giudecca, and Clamence
himself now to the image of Satan, now to Virgil.
Malkoff, Karl. "Allusion as Irony: Pound's Use of Dante in Hugh Selwyn Mauberley." In Minnesota Review, III, 81-88. [1967]
Points out that through Pound's parodic use of parallels with the Commedia
Mauberley is portrayed a failure as a poet and as a man, as contrasted
with Dante's own moral and aesthetic commitment.
Maurino, Ferdinando D. "Originality m the Vita Nuova." In Forum Italicum, I (April), 60-66. [1967]
Discusses the Vita Nuova as harbinger of a modern literary genre:
the romanzo d'amore. After treating such matters as the human Beatrice
presented by Dante, the latter's use of nuovo (a), and the further
development of the poet's love m the Commedia, the author stresses
the new character created by Dante in the libello and sustained
in the Commedia: the poet lover himself.
Mazzeo, Joseph Anthony. "Dante's Conception of Love." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 140-157. [1967]
Reprinted from Journal of the History of Ideas, XVIII (1957),
147-160. (See 76th Report, 48.)
Montano, Rocco. "Lettera aperta a Lanfranco Caretti." In Umanesimo, I, No. 4 (May), 61-66. [1967]
In this letter sent to Caretti eight or nine years before, when Montano
was publishing his interpretation of the Commedia in Delta, Professor
Montano invites his friend and critic to respond more precisely to questions
he has raised concerning the correct approach to Dante's poem. He specifically
laments the continuation of an attitude towards Dante he calls "romantic"
which has carried over from the nineteenth century to the middle of the
twentieth, an attitude that projects upon Dante and his poem the reader's
own biased notions of what he thinks or desires Dante to be. Such an uncritical
approach originates, ultimately, from a failure to distinguish clearly
between Dante poet, already converted, and Dante-pilgrim, in via,
behaving in the poetic journey according to the exigencies of art.
Montano, Rocco. "La querelle su Dante." In Umanesimo, I, No. 4 (May), 77-81. [1967]
In a series of brief critical notes and comments directed towards a
number of students of Dante, Professor Montano severely questions the validity
of a method (ecdotica) which diachronically (and selectively) retraces
commentaries back to Dante's own time as a means of determining the poet's
authentic intention; corrects a mistaken understanding of the term
fictio in the Letter to Can Grande, which
he stresses involves much more than a simple literary
fabrication; and acknowledges some recent instances of recognition
of his own critical interpretations.
Moorman, Charles, "Sign and Image: Philosopher and Poet." In Southern Quarterly, V, (April), 237-250. [1967]
Examines symbol viewed by the philosopher and the poet as sign (vehicle
for ideas) and image, respectively, testing the distinction on each of
four levels: the literal, allegorical (considered "historical"
here), moral, and anagogical (considered "mythical" here). Between
Dante and St. Thomas in the Middle Ages there could still be agreement
on these levels of meaning. But more recently the poet, interested in particularity
and uniqueness, and the philosopher, interested in abstraction and similarity,
have grown apart on the first levels, while preserving some mutual understanding
on the upper levels. The author concludes that we must read the symbol,
not in our particular professional capacities, but as men. Illustrations
are drawn from the Inferno, Lycidas, and Ibsen's The Wild Duck.
Morghen, Raffaello. "Dante and the Florence of the Good Old Days," In Bergin, ed., From Time to Eternity, pp. 1-37. [1967]
Discusses the Commedia as a reflection of Dante's times, whose
corruption and decay the poet sharply contrasts against a nobler historical
past and a higher ideal order. Whether or not Dante was lacking in historical
sense and his Utopian vision was not soon to be realized, his moral and
social message has preserved its validity through the centuries.
Newman, Francis X. "St. Augustine's Three Visions and the Structure of the Commedia." In Modern Language Notes, LXXII, No. I (Jan.), 56-78. [1967]
Suggests that in the overall structuring of his poem Dante was influenced
by the Augustinian tradition of three types of vision for seeing God--corporeal,
spiritual, and intellectual. Professor Newman offers a brief analysis of
St. Augustine's De Genesi ad litteram and indicates the spread of
his idea of three visions, based on physical (sensory) perception, incorporeal
(imaginative) images, and direct knowledge outside of space and time. There
follows a schematic reading of the Commedia in its general structure,
illustrating how the poet's three cantiche parallel the Augustinian
pattern of three visions. In the Inferno, God is perceived through
corporeal means; in the Purgatorio, through images; in the Paradiso.
In a kind of Pauline unrelatable transport afforded by a flash Grace.
Norton-Smith, J. "Auerbach on Literary Language." In Medium Aevum, XXXVI, 159-167. [1967]
In this review-article, the author considers Auerbach's Literary
Language and Its Public in Late Latin Antiquity and in the Middle Ages
(see below, under Addenda) quite wanting in the application
of Auerbach's theory, for example in the treatment of Aen. VII,
803-817, and Inf. IX, 64-81, and has some observations on
Dante's sources for the storm scene in the latter.
Pegis, Richard J. "Numerology and Probability in Dante." In Mediaeval Studies, XXIX, 370-373. [1967]
Contends that, according to the theory of mathematical probability,
number patterns such as that found by C. S. Singleton in "The Poet's
Number at the Center" (Modern Language Notes, LXXX [1965],
1-10; see Dante Studies, LXXXIV [1966], 100), could have occurred
accidentally.
Pellegrini, Anthony L. "American Dante Bibliography for 1966." In Dante Studies, LXXXV, 95-122. [1967]
With brief analyses.
Pellegrini, Anthony L. (Co-author) Key-Indexed Study
Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy. See Bernardo, Aldo S. [1967]
Petrocchi, Giorgio. "Dante and Thirteenth-Century Asceticism." In Bergin, ed., From Time to Eternity, pp. 39-64. [1967]
Examines the ascetic dimension m relation to the poetry of Dante's Commedia
from the standpoint of the schema in St. Thomas' Summa Theologica,
II-II, q. 24, art. 9, where are traced the three phases of ascetic
perfection as achieved through the three stages of love (which are in turn
paralleled in Dante's three cantiche). With this, the specific quality
of the poet's moral experience appears to reflect 13th-century Franciscan
asceticism which colors the whole poem. The author stresses the reality
and importance of Dante's ascetic experience which, in keeping with the
poet's sense of mission, looms larger than the intentionally limited mystical
element in the Commedia.
Petrovska-Giudici, Marija. "La Divina Commedia in Boemia." In Forum Italicum, I (Jan.-March), 11-15. [1967]
Recalls Dante's references to Bohemia and surveys translations of the
Commedia in Czech appearing between 1853 and 1965.
Puppo, Mario. "Gli scritti danteschi di Leo Spitzer." In Lettere italiane, XIX (luglio-sett.), 318-326. [1967]
Examines for Italian scholars who may not know these studies of Spitzer's
last period (in America) his several articles of Dantean interest, relates
them to his stylistic criticism, and focuses on his study on "Speech
and Language in Inferno XIII" as most significant.
Santayana, George. Little Essays Drawn from the Writings of George Santayana, by Logan Pearsall Smith, with the collaboration of the author. Freeport, N. Y.: Books for Libraries Press, Inc. XI, 290 p. 22 cm. (Essay Index Reprint Series.) [1967]
Contains an excerpt, "Dante" (pp. 186-188), citing the
Florentine's achievement as "the highest species of poetry,"
reprinted from Santayana's Three Philosophical Poets (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1910), pp. 132-135. The present volume was
originally published in 1920 (London: Constable; New York: C. Scribner's
Sons).
Sapegno, Natalino. "How the Commedia Was Born." In Bergin, ed., From Time to Eternity, pp. 1-18. [1967]
Relates the inspiration and motivation of the Commedia to a combination
of the general historical situation of cultural crisis and the poet's personal
crisis of exile. Dante's concern for the decadence and corruption of his
day is expressed m works well before the masterpiece. Writing out of a
spirit of prophecy, the poet employed a twofold vision contrasting the
contingent reality of earthly chaos and the eternal order constituted by
God. Despite Dante's conservative position in seeking to preserve traditional
values of the Middle Ages, his Commedia lives on because of its
imaginative poetic vigor and its endeavor to sustain the transcendent values
of past civilization in a quest for justice and order.
Sarolli, Gian Roberto. "Michelangelo--The Poet of the Night." In Forum Italicum, (Sept.), 133-155. [1967]
Examines Michelangelo's debt to Dante as his foremost source of artistic
influence, particularly in his poems and in his painting, Last Judgment.
For example, Professor Sarolli attributes to Dante Michelangelo's theory
of the chief aim of art as the direct translation m Alberti's words, of
the "movements of the soul"; his depiction of the Virgin Mary
m youthful mien as "Vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio" (Par.
XXXIII, I); and the association of David with Hercules (De
Mon.). Professor Sarolli submits a new interpretation of Michelangelo's
Last Judgment scene as a memorial to Dante. finally, he reconciles the
Renaissance question of the relation between painting and poetry, finding
that for Dante-poet in the Divine Comedy and Michelangelo-artist
in the Last Judgment the goal was the same: as the apocalyptic night
of the earth and mankind the kingdom of justice and the eternal Beauty
in Christ.
Scaglione, Aldo. "Imagery and Thematic Patterns in Paradiso XXIII." In Bergin ed. From Time to Eternity, pp. 137-172. [1967]
Lamenting the dearth of studies devoted to Dante's imagery, the author
examines this element of Dante's poetic technique, concentrating his close
analysis upon Par. XXIII perhaps the canto richest in simile
of the whole Commedia. The examination is focused on vv. 25-27
and its central image of Trivia, with a searching appraisal of the phonic,
rhythmic, denotative, and evocative elements contained in the passage.
Professor Scaglione stresses how such a suggestive image significantly
affects the surrounding context of the entire canto, and concludes that
"the mode of being of Dante's imagery owes more to expressive needs
than to the abstract intellectual structure of the poem."
Scaglione, Aldo. "Periodic Syntax and Flexible Meter in the Divina Commedia." In Romance Philology, XXI (August), 1-22. [1967]
Focuses his study on the hitherto neglected questions of Dante's complex periodic structures and varied metrical phrasing and finds that the poet uses hypotaxis and enjambement with particularly telling artistic effect at pertinent points in the Commedia. Several passages, especially Inf: III, 25-30, XIII, 40-45, XXX, I-27; Par. XXIII, 1-9, XXIV, 1-9, are analyzed and a number of related previous studies from Lisio to Segre are critically discussed. See also Professor Scaglione's study on "Imagery and Thematic Patterns in Paradiso XXIII," above.
Schettino, Franca. "Dante Profile im Italian Literature: Critical Reflections and Notes toward the Twentieth-Century Reappraisal." In Schettino, ed., A Dante Profile, pp. 39-81. [1967]
Seeks "to call attention to the peculiar fermenting atmosphere
of the most recent Dantism, and mainly to indicate in it the potentials
for a 'new approach' to Dante." Referring to the age-old division
between poets and critics, the author dwells upon what Italian poets of
the past such as Petrarch and Boccaccio and, later, Machiavelli have said
on Dante, in order better to understand the encounter between contemporary
Italian poets, e.g., Quasimodo, Luzi, and Pasolini, and Dante. In more
recent generations the technique of the poet/Dante dialogue, invariably
prompted by an attempt at self-definition, has changed from the direct-address
to indirect acknowledgment by means of the prose comment and even silent
admiration. The new directions indicated, esp. by foreign critics like
Spitzer and Singleton, point to a reassessment of Dante's poetry marked
by a return toward an aesthetic (not necessarily Crocean) interpretation.
The author concludes that today the Italian poet, in between his silent
dialogue and his deep knowledge of Dante, is seeking direction, but when,
absorbed in his mission, he gives occasional expression to his experience,
it will be the critic's function to articulate and interpret its implicit
message. To illustrate and support her discussion, Professor Schettino
adds a series of short literary comments (Italian text with English translation)
on Dante left by Italian poets and writers from Cavalcanti to Pasolini.
She also provides an extensive section of bibliographical footnotes.
Schettino, Franca, ed. A Dante Profile. Los Angeles: University of Southern California Press. (6 L), (X), 81 p. illus., port. 23.5 cm. ("Dante Lectures, Seventh Centennial of His Birth 1265-1965.") [1967]
The four papers, by N. L. Goodrich, C. Speroni, J. J. Bullaro, and F.
Schettino, are separately listed in this bibliography. Two of the papers
are published essentially as delivered at the University of Southern California,
March 22-25, 1965, in celebration of the Dante Centenary; the remaining
two have been considerably modified, as explained in the editor's preface.
Sheehan, Donald. "A Reading of Dante's rime petrose." In Italica, XLIV (June), 144-162. [1967]
Offers a brief reading of the rime petrose, with a careful analysis
of technical structure, psychological tenor, and specific motifs of the
four poems, which are seen to involve an ironic recasting of Provençal
myths. The author concludes that the petrose experiment / experience,
sharpening Dante's style of anger and despair, represents a necessary preparation
for the transition from the delicate lyricism of the Vita Nuova
to the "complex, massive harmonics of the Commedia."
Silverstein, Theodore. "Rex Iustus et Pius: Henry's Throne and Dante's Christian Prince." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 125-139. [1967]
Considers Par. XXX, 133-138, a powerful tribute to Henry
VII as embodying Dante's faith in the Roman imperium. Probing the Christian
tradition m the Middle Ages, the author shows that justitia and pietas
were the two elements on which imperial authority was predicated. For,
Dante, the ideal king was exemplified by Henry, whose sudden death meant
the end of the poet's earthly hopes. The condemnation of Pope Clement V
immediately following the eulogy of Henry "is sharpened by a bitter
irony, the irony that of the two great divisions of authority . . . the
one which might properly be the more worldly is destined to be prevented
from achieving its divine mission by the mundane greed of the spiritual
power." Originally published in Harvard Theological Review,
XXXII (1939), 115-129, as "The Throne of the Emperor Henry in
Dante's Paradise and the Mediaeval Conception of Christian Kingship";
the quotations in the latter have been translated into English for the
present version.
Singleton, Charles S. Dante Studies 2. Journey to Beatrice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, vi, 291 p. 21 cm. [1967]
Reprint of the well known work, first published in 1958. (See 77th
Report, 52-53; extensively reviewed.)
Singleton, Charles S. "Dante's Allegory." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 91-103. [1967]
Reprinted from his Dante Studies 1. Commedia: Elements of Structure
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1954), pp. 84-98; the
original title was "The Two Kinds of Allegory." (See 73rd
Report, 60-61.)
Sister M. Jerome, I. H. M. "Human and Divine Love in Dante and Mauriac." In Renascence, XVII (Summer), 176-184. [1967]
Finds that Mauriac's novels, when examined sequentially, display a development
similar to Dante's of the theme of the relationship between human and divine
love.
Smith, Constance I. "Descendit ad Inferos--Again." In Journal of the History of Ideas, XXVIII (Jan.-March), 87-88. [1967]
Adds to R. V. Turner's survey, "Descendit ad Inferos . . ."
(see below, under Addenda), a fourth explanation for Christ's
descent into Hell, that of Rupert of Deutz (12th c.) of a Eucharistic descensus
undertaken by Christ so the departed saints might partake of his body as
an essential means to redemption, along with baptism--an idea that reappeared
in the 16th century. To Professor Turner's ten earlier thinkers the author
adds ten of the 16th century who also considered the descensus ad inferos,
holding to either a literal or mystical-metaphorical interpretation.
Also briefly discussed is the saving of a virtuous pagan by intercession
long after the much discussed descensus, as in the case of Trajan
recalled by Dante in Purg. X, 73-76, and Par. XX, 106-109.
Speroni, Charles. "Dante's Prophetic Morning-Dreams." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 182-192. [1967]
Examines Dante's allusions to the divining power of morning dreams--five in the Commedia and one each in the Vita Nuova and Convivio--and discusses other instances of the theme in literature from Passavanti and Petrarch to Monti, as well as various ancient, Oriental, Spanish, and English authors. Reprinted from Studies in Philology, XLV (1948),
50-59.
Speroni, Charles. "Folklore in the Divine Comedy." In Schettino, ed., A Dante Profile, pp. 15-25. [1967]
Points out the paucity of studies on folkloristic elements in Dante's
work and suggests some fruitful areas of investigation. The author illustrates
the rich possibilities by exploring three examples of popular beliefs reflected
m the Commedia--the animistic notion of bleeding-speaking trees
(Inf. XIII, 33-37, 40-45), the struggle between angel
and devil over the newly departed (Inf. XXVII, 112-123;
Purg. V, 100-108), and playing dolphins as a forecast of
foul weather (Inf. XXII, 19-24).
Strauch, E. H. "Dante's Vita Nuova as Riddle." In Symposium, XXI (Winter), 324-330. [1967]
Contends that Chap. XIX (canzone and commentary) of the Vita Nuova
constitutes a riddle and a key, indeed that the whole libello itself
should be studied as a riddle, for "it reflects Dante's mystical view
of existence, which he sees as held together by the very supernatural forces
uniting and sustaining the Holy Trinity."
Sullivan, Ruth Elizabeth. "Browning's 'Childe Roland' and Dante's 'Inferno."' In Victorian Poetry, V (Winter), 296-302. [1967]
From similarities between the respective protagonists and their general
situation and from many identical or similar details of landscape in the
two works, the author concludes that the Inferno was one of the
dominant pieces of unconscious or preconscious material upon which Browning
drew for Childe Roland.
Swallow, Alan. "Allegory as Literary Method." In Denver Quarterly, II (Spring), 73-81. [1967]
Considers allegory peculiar to the Middle Ages, resulting from a combination
of the death of the pagan gods and the development of the Christian view
of the Incarnation with its union of the material and spiritual. For Dante,
the problem, as well as his imagination, was primarily a visual one, that
is, "to give an exact transcript of his vision." "And the
more sharp and at the same time complicated it appeared at the literal
level, the more the allegorical meaning would be extended and become rich."
In the Renaissance and later, with the subversion of medieval philosophy
and psychology, the use of allegory was reversed, for example, by Spenser,
for mere decoration or the arbitrary representation of what was primarily
a set of abstractions, devoid of the sensible, human, and concrete. The
essay is reprinted from New Mexico Quarterly Review, X (August 1940),
147-157.
Tatlock, J. S. P. "Dante's Terza Rima." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 26-36. [1967]
Contends that Dante's use of terza rima, by its very nature and
by the poet's careful distribution of rhymes, was instrumental in preserving
the textual integrity of the Commedia as it has come down to us.
As a likely possible source of the poet's invention of terza rima, the
author favors the sestet of the sonnet over the sirventese form.
Reprinted from PLMA, LI (1936), 895-903.
Tenenbaum, Louis. "Classical Influences in the Commedia: Dante's Use of Classical Antiquity in the 'Purgatorio."' In Bucknell Review, XV, No. I (March), 26-34. [1967]
Discusses the undiminished continuation in the Purgatorio of
Dante's use of ancient history and mythology, not unexpected in the Inferno,
but perhaps surprising to find in the highly Christian context of the
second cantica. Dante's successful fusion of the classical and medieval
worlds is further tribute to his poetic mastery.
Ternay, Kalman. "Dante e la sua opera nella poesia ungherese." In Italica, XLIV, 163-179. [1967]
Revised and much expanded version of the same survey which appeared
in Proceedings of the Pacific Northwest Conference on Foreign Languages,
XVII (1966), 164-169 (see Dante Studies, LXXXV, 113),
outlining the profound cult of Dante in Hungary, particularly from the
mid-19th century to the present, as manifested in several translations
of the poet's works (e.g., by Szász, Papp, Babits, Császar,
Ferenczi, and Jékely): various poems inspired by him (e.g., by Arany,
Babits, Kosztolanyi, and Ady); and a fairly rich harvest of critical studies.
The centenary year, 1965, saw a second edition of Dante's works in Hungarian;
a re-issue of the classic translation of the Commedia by Mihály
Babits (1883-1941); and a collection of the more important studies
occasioned by the centenary celebration in Hungary: Dante a középkor
és a renaissance között (Dante fra il Medioevo e il
Rinascimento).
Thompson, David. "Dante's Ulysses and the Allegorical Journey." In Dante Studies, LXXXV, 33-58. [1967]
Effects a synthesis of contrary critical positions regarding Dante's
Ulysses, particularly that of Nardi, who identifies Dante with Ulysses
in a noble quest for knowledge, and that of Montano, who firmly distinguishes
between a misguided Ulysses and the converted Dante. The author carefully
examines Ulysses' various appearances in the Commedia, in which
he finds Dante's account of him entirely new and in direct opposition to
the tradition, though the latter was easily available to him. He then considers
relevant aspects of the Ulysses tradition prior to Dante, in which the
Greek hero was platonically much allegorized until his adventures "became
the great archetype for any journey or process, physical or spiritual."
Moreover, Ulysses appears both m previous tradition and in Dante's poem
as an anti-Aeneas, whose own epic journey, however, was providentially
successful and right. Dante's two major changes in the Ulysses story, i.e.,
(1) having his homeward journey suspended by a quest for knowledge and
(2) having him diverted by the sirens, actually parallel developments in
the poet's own life, viz., his abortive pursuit of "virtue and knowledge"
expressed in a philosophical-ethical treatise, the unfinished Convivio,
and his intellectual temptations figured in the donna pietosa, whom
he himself allegorized into Lady Philosophy. Dante's previous folle
volo is echoed by the several Ulyssean references in the Commedia.
Thus, the Dante of the Convivio finds expression in Ulysses,
while this earlier Dante is judged by the post-conversion poet who condemns
Ulysses.
Vergani, Gian Angelo. "Osservazioni su un manoscritto dantesco del XIV sec." In Studia Ghisleriana, Serie speciale per il IV centenario del Collegio Ghislieri in Pavia, 67-1967: "Volume di studi letterari," pp. 257-284. [1967]
Describes in detail a 14th-century manuscript fragment in the Collegio
Ghislieri library, containing portions of Par. II, III, X, and XI;
reproduces the text, noting points of comparison with the authoritative
Cod. Landiano of Piacenza (1336) and the Trivulziano 1080 (1337), which
latter was the basis of Vandelli's critical edition of 1921; and draws
a number of detailed observations and conclusions regarding the nature
and importance of the fragment. Professor Vergani contends that the manuscript
is one of the oldest and constitutes new evidence against the "criterio
di uniformità e coerenza adottata dalla maggioranza degli edd."
Vergani, Gian Angelo. "Sisyphus' Work, or Reconstructing the Divine Comedy." In Romanic Review, LVIII (Dec.), 283-290. [1967]
Review-article on textual criticism of Dante's Commedia, focused
upon the new critical edition by Giorgio Petrocchi, La Commedia secondo
l'antica vulgata (I. Introduzione; II. Inferno; Milano:
Mondadori, 1966).
Wenzel, Siegfried. The Sin of Sloth: "Acedia" in Medieval Thought and Literature. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. xi, 269 p. 23.5 cm. [1967]
Within his general treatment of the origins and development of the concept
of acedia (technical term for sloth) in the Middle Ages, the author
discusses Dante's handling of acedia in the Commedia, with
particular attention (I) to Purg. XVII and the poet's deducing of
the seven capital vices from the principle of love misdirected (pp. 128-135)
and (2) to Inf. VII and the yet unresolved crux of the exact differentiation
of sins the poet intended m the fifth circle of Hell. Dante integrated
the traditional acedia in his poetic world, linking it harmoniously
to his political theory and to elements of personal experience. Bibliography,
pp. 253-260. Indexed.
Wilkins, Ernest Hatch. "The Living Dante." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 3-14. [1967]
A tribute to Dante's transcendent power and intensity in both life and
work, his effort to unify mankind, and his fine grasp of the relation between
time and eternity, as manifested to a varying degree in the Vita Nuova,
Convivio, and Monarchia, but supremely in the vision of the
Commedia. Reprinted from Italica, XXII (1945), 49-58.
Wilkins, Ernest Hatch. "Reminiscence and Anticipation in the Divine Comedy." In Clements, ed. American Critical Essays, pp. 52-63. [1967]
Examines various types and instances of the devices of reminiscence
and anticipation by which Dante enhances the organic unity and reality
of the poetic journey. Reprinted from 55th-67th Annual Reports of
the Dante Society (1951), 1-13; also found in Wilkins, The Invention
of the Sonnet and Other Studies in Italian Literature (Roma: Edizioni
di Storia e Letteratura, 1959), pp. 79-89. (See 78th Report, 37.)
Wilkins, Ernest Hatch. "Voices of the Divine Comedy." In Clements, ed., American Critical Essays, pp. 174-181. [1967]
Reprinted from 79th Annual Report of the Dante Society (1961),
1-9. (See 80th Report, 33.)
Reviews
Dante. Tutte le opere. A cura di Luigi Blasucci. Firenze: Sansoni, 1965. Reviewed by:
Michele Ricciardelli, in Modern Language Journal, LI (Dec.),
516-517.
Dante. La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata. A cura di
Giorgio Petrocchi. Milano: Arnoldo Mondadori: I. Introduzione (1966);
II. Inferno (1966). (See above, under Studies, for a review-article
by G. A. Vergani.)
Dante. [Inferno XV.] Translated by Robert Lowell, in his Near the Ocean (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1967), pp.109-116. (See above, under Translations.) Reviewed by:
G. S. Fraser, in New York Times Book Review, Jan. 15, pp. 5 and
20.
Dante. Monarchia. A cura di Pier Giorgio Ricci. Milano: Mondadori, 1965. (Società Dantesca Italiana: Edizione nazionale, 5.) Reviewed by:
Colin Hardie, in Modern Language Notes, LXXXLI, No. I (Jan.),
106-113.
Dante. Dante's Lyric Poetry. Edited, translated, and annotated by Kenelm Foster and Patrick Boyde. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2 V. Vol. I contains the poems, with translations by Boyde; Vol. Ll, the annotations by Foster. Reviewed by:
Thomas G. Bergin, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter),
89-108.
Dante. Dantis Alagherii Epistolae. Edited by Paget Toynbee and Colin Hardie. Second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reviewed by:
Thomas G. Bergin, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter),
89-108.
Dante. [Excerpts.] In Selections from Italian Poetry, edited by A. Michael De Luca and William Giuliano . . . (Irvington-on-Hudson, N. Y.: Harvey House, 1966), pp.20-31. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 96.) Reviewed by:
Luigi C. Borelli, in Italica, XLIV (Sept.), 377-379;
Lawrence Cunningham, in Forum Italicum, I (Sept.), 221-222.
Baron, Hans. The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance: Civic Humanism and Republican Liberty in an Age of Classicism and Tyranny. Revised one-volume edition, with an epilogue. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1966. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 97 and 114.) Reviewed by:
Hans R. Guggisberg, in Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, XXIX, 519;
Vincent Luciani, in Italica, XLIV (Sept.), 371-373.
Bauer, Clemens, Laetitia Boehm, and Max Muller, eds. Speculum historiale: Geschichte im Spiegel von Geschichtsschreibung und Geschichtsdeutung.... Freiburg, München: Karl Alber, 1965. XVI, 783 p. Contains three Dantean studies by Conrad, Rheinfelder, and Lowe. Reviewed by:
[Anon.], in Speculum, XLII (July), 569-570.
Bergin, Thomas G. Dante. New York: Orion Press, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXIV, 76 and 106, and LXXXV, 15.) Reviewed by:
Augusto Guidi, in Lettere italiane, XIX (genn.-marzo), 127-129.
Bergin, Thomas G., ed. From Time to Eternity: Essays on Dante's Divine Comedy. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1967. (See above, under Studies.) Reviewed by:
Dante Della Terza, in Dante Studies, LXXXV, 85-94.
Books Abroad. Special Issue: A Homage to Dante. (May 1965) (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 78.) Reviewed by:
Terence P. Logan, in Comparative Literature Studies, IV, No.
1-2, 209-214.
Buti, Giovanni, and Renzo Bertagni. Commento astronomico della Divina Commedia. Firenze: Sandron, 1966. 254 p. Reviewed by:
L[uigi] B[orelli], in Forum Italicum, I (Sept.), 224-225.
Centenary Essays on Dante. By Members of the Oxford Dante Society. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 115.) Reviewed by:
Thomas G. Bergin, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter), 89-108;
Helmut Hatzfeld, in Forum for Modern Language Studies, III, 61-66.
Chandler, S. Bernard, and J. A. Molinaro, eds. The World of Dante: Six Studies in Language and Thought. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 98-99.) Reviewed by:
[Anon.] in Speculum, XLII (July), 570;
Thomas G. Bergin, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter), 89-108;
Thomas G. Bergin, in University of Toronto Quarterly, XXXVI (July), 389-391;
Dante Della Terza, in Dante Studies, LXXXV, 85-94;
W. L. Gundersheimer, in Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance,
XXIX, 538.
Charity, A. C. Events and Their Afterlife: The Dialectics of Christian Typology in the Bible and Dante. Cambridge, England: University Press, 1966. xi, 288 p. Reviewed by:
Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., in Speculum, XLII (Oct.), 722-723.
Chubb, Thomas Caldecot. Dante and His World Boston-Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1966. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 99.) Reviewed by:
Thomas G. Bergin, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter), 89-108;
Carlo Beuf, in New York Times Book Review, March 19, pp. 10, 14, 16;
Robert J. Clements, in Saturday Review, May 13, pp. 45 and 62;
Charles T. Davis, in American Historical Review, LXXIII (Oct.),
19-120.
Clements, Robert J., ed. American Critical Essays on the Divine Comedy. New York: New York University Press, 1967. (See above, under Studies.) Reviewed by:
Jean-Pierre Barricelli, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43
(Winter), 118-120.
Cunningham, Gilbert F. The Divine Comedy in English: A Critical Bibliography, 1782-1900. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd; New York: Barnes and Noble, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 82 and 107, and LXXXV, 115.) Reviewed by:
Thomas G. Bergin, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter), 89-108;
D. J. Donno, in Renaissance Quarterly, XX (Spring), 24-25;
Enzo Esposito, in Alighieri, VIII (luglio-dic.), 85, 87-90;
Michael Ricciardelli, in Italica, XLIV (March), 90-94.
De Sua, William J. Dante into English: A Study of the Translations of the Divine Comedy in Britain and America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964. (See 83rd Report, 52, Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 107, and LXXXV, 115.) Reviewed by:
Davy Carozza, in Modern Language Journal, LI (Oct.), 369-370;
Gaetano Iannace, in Forum Italicum, I (Sept.), 222-224;
Michael Ricciardelli, in Italica, XLIV (March), 90-94.
De Sua, William J., and Gino Rizzo, eds. A Dante Symposium in Commemoration of the 700th Anniversary of the Poet's Birth (1265-1965) . . . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 83, and LXXXV, 116.) Reviewed by:
[Anon.], in Speculum, XLII (Jan.), 218-219;
Thomas G. Bergin, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter), 89-108;
Enzo Esposito, in Alighieri, VIII (luglio-dic.), 85, 87-90;
Terence P. Logan, in Comparative Literature Studies, IV, No. 1-2, 209-214;
Aldo D. Scaglione, in Romance Philology, XX (Feb.), 386-387.
Fergusson, Francis. Dante. New York: Macmillan; London:
Collier-Macmillan, 1966. (Masters of World Literature Series.) (See
Dante Studies, LXXXV, 101-102.) Reviewed by: Daniel J. Donno,
in Speculum, XLII (Jan.), 136-139.
Friedrich, Hugo. Epochen der italienischen Lyrik. Frankfurt-am-Main: Vittorio Klostermann, 1964. xvi, 784 p. Contains a chapter on Dante. Reviewed by:
Oscar Büdel, in Modern Language Quarterly, XXVIII (June),
249-252.
Giamatti, A. Bartlett. The Earthly Paradise and the Renaissance Epic. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1966. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 103.) Reviewed by:
Alan Bullock, in Renaissance Quarterly, XX (Spring), 31-35;
Lena M. Ferrari, in Italica, XLIV, 368-371;
Bernard Huppé, in Speculum, XLII (July), 527-529;
John L. Lievsay, in Comparative Literature Studies, IV, No. 3, 331-334;
J[ohn] H. W[hitfield], in Italian Studies, XXII, 134-136.
Grant, W. Leonard. Neo-Latin Literature and the Pastoral. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 116 and 119.) Reviewed by:
Cecil H. Clough, in Manuscripta, XI (March), 56-58;
David Greenwood, [in Latin] in Comparative Literature Studies, IV, No. 1-2, 207-209;
D. F. S. Thompson, in University of Toronto Quarterly, XXXVI
(July), 391-392.
Hatzfeld, Helmut. Estudios sobre el barroco. Segunda edición. Madrid: Gredos, 1966. Contains a comparison of the "Gothic" Dante and the Baroque Tasso: "Onomatología religiosa en Tasso y Dante"(pp. 165-175). (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 105.) Reviewed by:
Bruce Wardropper, in Comparative Literature, XIX, 279-283.
Hyde, J. K. Padua in the Age of Dante. [Manchester, England:] Manchester University Press; New York: Barnes and Noble, 1966. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 105.) Reviewed by:
Gray C. Boyce, in Renaissance Quarterly, XX (Summer), 220-222;
D. Clementi, in Italian Studies, XXII, 121-123;
Frederic C. Lane, in American Historical Review, LXXII (Jan.),
554-555.
Lagercrantz, Olof. From Hell to Paradise: Dante and His Comedy. Translated from the Swedish by Alan Blair. New York: Washington Square Press, 1966. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 106.) Reviewed by:
Thomas G. Bergin, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter),
89-108.
Lewis, C. S. Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Collected by Walter Hooper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966. Contains three essays on Dante. Reviewed by:
Jean-Pierre Barricelli, in Italian Quarterly, X, No.
39-40 (Winter-Spring), 102-105.
Limentani, Uberto, ed. The Mind of Dante. Cambridge, England: At the University Press, 1965. Contains seven essays by Sapegno, McNair, Foster, Boyde, Limentani, Cremona, and Brand. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 116.) Reviewed by:
Thomas G. Bergin, in Italian Quarterly, XI, No. 43 (Winter), 89-108;
A. S. Bernardo, in Renaissance Quarterly, XX (Spring), 21-24;
Joseph Chierici, in Modern Language Journal, LI (Feb.), 116-118;
G. H. Gifford, in Modern Philology, LXV (Aug.), 62-63;
Helmut Hatzfeld, in Forum for Modern Language Studies, III,
61-66.
Mahoney, John, and John Esten Keller, eds. Mediaeval Studies in Honor of Urban Tigner Holmes, Jr. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965. (University of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures, 56.) Contains a piece by Elliott D. Healy on "Some Aspects of the Troubadour Contribution to the Dolce Stil Nuovo" (pp. 89-102). (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 89.) Reviewed by:
[Anon.], in Speculum, XLII (Oct.), 771.
Musa, Mark, ed. Essays on Dante. Bloomington: Indian University Press, 1964. (See 83rd Report, 56, Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 107, and LXXXV, 117.) Reviewed by:
Enzo Esposito, in Alighieri, VIII (luglio-dic.), 85, 87-90.
Nottingham Mediaeval Studies, IX (1965): "Dante Centenary Number." Pp. 1-70. Contains five articles by Reynolds, Sayers (2), Lewis, and Williams. Reviewed by:
Helmut Hatzfeld, in Forum for Modern Language Studies, III,
61-66.
Samuel, Irene. Dante and Milton: The Commedia and Paradise Lost. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1966. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 111 and 117.) Reviewed by:
Mary Ann Radzinowicz, in Renaissance Quarterly, XX (Winter),
517-519.
Studi medievali (Spoleto), 3a serie, VI, No. 2 (1965). [Dante number:] "Per la storia della cultura in Italia nel duecento e primo trecento: Omaggio a Dante nel VII centenario della nascita." lxvi, 711 p. Contains several Dantean pieces. Reviewed by:
[Anon.], in Speculum, XLII (Jan.), 220.
Torre, Augusto. I Polentani fino al tempo di Dante. Firenze: Olschki, 1966. Reviewed by:
Anthony Molho, in American Historical Review, LXXII (April),
952.
Wilhelm, James J. The Cruelest Month: Spring, Nature, and Love in Classical and Medieval Lyrics New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXXV, 122) Reviewed by:
Joseph Szövérffy, in Medium Aevum, XXXVI, 176-177;
Hildegard Weiss, in Comparative Literature, XIX, 276-279.
Wilkins, Ernest Hatch, and Thomas G. Bergin, eds. A Concordance to the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri . . . Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 104 and 108, and LXXXV, 118 and 122.) Reviewed by:
Joseph Chierici, in Modern Language Journal, LI (Jan.), 63-64;
Enzo Esposito, in Alighieri, VIII (luglio-dic.), 85,
87-90.
ADDENDA
Translations
Vita Nuova. Translated by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Edited and annotated by J. Chesley Mathews. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1960. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1965. xiii, 145 p. facsims. 27 cm.
Reprint from the series, "University of North Carolina Studies
in Comparative Literature," No. 26. (See 79th Report, 40 and
51, and 81st Report, 31.)
[Selected poems.] In Lyric Poetry of the Italian Renaissance: An Anthology with Verse Translations. Collected by L[evi] R[obert] Lind. With an introduction by Thomas G. Bergin. New Haven: Yale University Press [1964; C 1954]. xxvii, 334 p. 20 cm. (Yale Paperbound, Y-122.)
Includes fourteen poems drawn from the Vita Nuova, Convivio, and
Rime, with Italian text and English translation by several hands
on facing pages. The original hardbound edition appeared in 1954. (See
73rd Report, 54, and 74th Report, 59.)
Studies
Auerbach, Erich. Literary Language and Its Public in Late Latin Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. Translated from the German by Ralph Manheim. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965. x, 405 p.
British edition identical with the American (Bollingen Series, LXXIV;
New York: Pantheon Books, 1965). (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 75
and 106.) For a critique by J. Norton-Smith, see main section above,
Studies.
Ceserani, Remo. "E. H. Wilkins." In Giornale storico della letteratura italiana, CXLIII (1966), 632-634.
Commemorative sketch of the late American student of Italian literature
whose special interests were Petrarch and Dante.
Dante in Art. Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon Museum of Art, 1965. 60 p. illus., ports., plates. 23 cm.
Catalogue of an exhibit held from February 2 to March 14 of the 1965
Dante Centenary. The 89 items, with foreword, full notes, and 20 plates,
cover manuscripts and printed books, prints and drawings, paintings, sculpture,
and theater.
Essays Presented to Charles Williams. Contributors: Dorothy Sayers [and others]. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans [1966] xiv, 145 p.23 cm.
Contains "'And Telling You a Story': A Note on the Divine Comedy" by Dorothy Sayers, which was later reprinted in her Further Papers on Dante (New York: Harper;
London: Methuen, 1957). (See 76th Report, 52 and 57.) This volume
was first published in 1947 (London and New York: Oxford University Press).
Fergusson, Francis. Dante. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966. x, 214 p. table, diagr. 22.5 cm. (Masters of World Literature Series.)
Same as the American edition (New York: Macmillan, 1966). (See Dante
Studies, LXXXV, 101-102 and 116, and see below, under Reviews.)
Il Giornalino, VII, No. 6 (April 1965). [Dante number.] 8 p.
Contains Centenary tribute pieces by P.B.C. [Pierina Borrani Castiglione],
Bruno Migliorini, L.B. [Luigi Borelli], and Gail E. Hun.
Gulì, Francesca. The Boy and the Stars: A Lyrical Tale of Dante Alighieri, the Boy. Illustrated by Patricia Walsh. Francestown, N. H.: Golden Quill Press [1965]. 64 p. color illus. 22 X 23 cm.
A handsome children's book designed to acquaint the young with Dante
in a captivating manner. The text, in rhymed couplets, comes with a short
introduction and brief notes to the verses, and a melody, "Lady Bella's
Lullaby" (pp. 20-21) composed by . the author.
Hunt, Leigh. Leigh Hunt on Eight Sonnets of Dante. Notes printed from the autograph manuscript in the University of Iowa Library, with translations of the sonnets into English by Joseph Garrow, Shelley, and Charles Lyell, a pencil drawing of Hunt by Anne Gliddon, and an editorial introduction by Rhodes Dunlap. Iowa City: Typographic Laboratory, The University of Iowa School of Journalism, 1965. ix, (I), 22 p. port. 25 cm.
Includes the Italian text of the sonnets with interlinear English translations.
"Of an edition limited to three hundred copies . . . printed specially
for the Friends of the University of Iowa Library."
Leo, Ulrich. Stilforschung und dichterische Einheit. München: Max Heuber [1966]. 70 p.
cm. (Münchener romanistische Arbeiten . . . Heft 21.)
Contains a section on the Commedia, pp. 51-59, and further reference to Dante passim. In two chapters, "über Stilforschung und ihre asthetischen Grundlagen" (pp. 7-30) and "Einheit, Wollen, Müssen" (pp. 31-67), the author examines various views on
artistic unity and submits his own definition as "die Frucht der
ersten und geheimsten Begegnung zwischen Intuition und Ausdruck im dichterischen
Geist" (p. 35); relates his theory to Don Quijote, Gargantua et
Pantagruel, and the Divina Commedia; criticizes Croce's dualistic
view of poesia and non-poesia; discusses C. S. Singleton's
critical approach; and re-affirms his own view expressed earlier in
his "Sehen und Schauen bei Dante," reprinted in Sehen und
Wirklichkeit bei Dante (Frankfurt: Klostermann, 1957). (See 76th
Report, 46 and 56.) In the end, Professor Leo holds that "die
Einhelt ist das 'göttliche' Geheimnis der Kunst" (p. 43), that
the true poet does not himself know whence artistic unity originates, but
merely seeks to recapture it in expression. Published posthumously with
a foreword by Helmut Hatzfeld and Hans Rheinfelder and a "Weitere
Bibliographie zur Stilforschung" (p. 69).
M[alkiel], Y[akov]. "Necrology: Ernest Hatch Wilkins." In Romance Philology, XX, No. 2 (No. 1966), 217.
Brief tribute to the late Italianist.
Mathews, J. Chesley. "The Interest in Dante Shown by Nineteenth-Century American Men of Letters." In Studi americani (Roma), XI (1965), 77-104.
Same as the piece with identical title in Dante Alighieri: Three
lectures. ..by Mathews, Fergusson, and Ciardi (Washington: Library
of Congress, 1965), pp. 1-22. (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 93.)
Mathews, J. Chesley. "Richard Furman, Reader of Dante." In Furman University Bulletin, XIII, No. 3 (May 1966), 11-14.
Finds that this grandson (1816-1886) of the founder of Furman
University was acquainted with the Commedia in Italian
and was influenced by Dante in his own poetry.
Montano, Rocco. "Dante personaggio." In Cultura e scuola, V, No. 17 (genn.-marzo 1966), 243-251.
Responding to the criticisms of E. N. Girardi ("Dante personaggio,"
in Cultura e scuola, IV, No. 13-14 [1965], 332-342;
esp. pp. 338-339), Professor Montano offers further arguments in support
of the vital distinction between Dante-poet and Dante-wayfarer.
Mott, Lewis Freeman. The System of Courtly Love, Studied as an Introduction to the Vita Nuova of Dante. New York: Haskell House, 1965. vi, 153, (I) p.23.5 cm.
Reprint of this superannuated work, originally published in 1896 (Boston
and London: Ginn and Co.). There is a vita of the author on p. [154].
Musa, Mark. "Le ali di Dante (e il dolce stil novo): Purg. XXIV." In Convivium, XXXIV (1966), 361-367.
Contends that in the famous encounter with Bonagiunta, the latter's
response to Dante's definition of his literary method has been long misinterpreted.
Professor Musa submits that a reading of penne (v. 58) as
"wings," rather than the generally accepted "pens,"
resolves inconsistencies otherwise created in the surrounding verses and
relates more organically to the spiritual growth of the wayfarer as well.
Newman, F. X. "The Land of Ooze: Joyce's 'Grace' and the Book of Job." In Studies in Short Fiction, IV (Fall 1966), 70-79.
Against Stanislaus Joyce's testimony, accepted by current critics, that
James Joyce's mock-heroic story, "Grace," is patterned on
the Divine Comedy, the author submits that the parody more likely
derives, in structure and detail, from the Book of Job.
Niemeyer, Carl. "'Grace' and Joyce's Method of Parody." In College English, XXVII (Dec- 1965), 196-201.
Cites many small details in Joyce's story, "Grace," to support
its parodic parallelism with Dante's Comedy.
St.-John Perse. Two Addresses. "On Poetry," translated by W. H. Auden; "Dante," translated by Robert Fitzgerald. With the French texts. [New York :] Pantheon Books [1966] 62 p.21 cm. (Bollingen Series, LXXXVI.)
"Dante" (pp. 17-31; French text, pp. 45-58) was delivered
as an "Address for the Inauguration of the International Congress
in Florence on the Occasion of the Seventh Centenary of Dante, April 20,
1965. The piece is an anniversary tribute to Dante, to his unsurpassed
poetry, to the poet himself as a "complete" man, and to the universality
of, his work.
Saly, John. "Dante and the Way of Self-Discovery." In Explorations, No. 10 (Sept. (1966), 9-18.
Outlines a reading of Dante's Comedy in terms of modern psychology,
by relating the three allegorical meanings and the three cantiche to (1)
the three stages which the psychotherapist now calls self-understanding,
(2) use of this self-knowledge for correcting distorted behavior, and
(3) the ultimate state of growth and self-actualization. The Inferno,
Purgatorio, and Paradiso, respectively, are seen to correspond
very closely to these three processes. Although psychology still has much
to learn about the third state of freedom, creativity, and love, it can
take hope from Dante in leading the way.
Saly, John. "Dante's Paradiso: The Ladder of Man's Ultimate Development." In Insight, Summer 1965, pp.8-12.
Building upon his article, "Dante and the Way of Self-Discovery," Professor Saly here focuses on the last cantica and draws a parallel between Dante's journey and the
ultimate "self-actualization" of modern psychology.
Sarolli, Gian Roberto. "Prolegomena alla Commedia: Autoesegesi dantesca e tradizione esegetica medievale." In Convivium, XXXIV (1966), 77-112.
To clarify what he calls Dante's "self-exegesis" (autoesegesi),
the author in polyglot verbiage closely examines the poet's distinction
and practice regarding the polysemous method in the Convivio, Letter
to Can Grande, and Monarchia, emphasizing the interdependence of
the views there expressed as key to understanding the Commedia. Distinctions
made among the four senses, literal, allegorical, tropological, and anagogical,
are traced to Thomas Aquinas, Isidore, Abelard, Bernard, and Alanus de
Insulis. Professor Sarolli considers the literal sense as basis of the
others; the function of metaphor as point of differentiation between Scripture-Author
and the dual sense, literal and allegorical; the typological identification
of the Orpheus myth and Christ, leading to the new typus-Christi
in the Veltro and DXV symbols of the Commedia; and
Dante as "Artefice-ispirato-istrumento ed Interprete"
in his poem. Echoing C. S. Singleton's distinction of allegory of poets
vs. allegory of theologians, Professor Sarolli stresses that the Commedia
the real and only fiction is not the poem as poem, but the poem as
a providential superhuman undertaking to write in God's way of writing.
Spencer, Theodore. Theodore Spencer: Selected Essays. Edited by Alan C. Purves. [New Brunswick, New Jersey:] Rutgers University Press, [1966]. xii, 368 p. 24.5 cm.
Contains two pieces of Dantean interest, on "The Story of Ugolino
in Dante and Chaucer," pp. 41-48, and "Chaucer's Hell: A
Study in Medieval Convention," pp. 49-72. In the first, the treatment
of the Ugolino story in the Monk's Tale is compared with
Dante's version in Inf: XXXIII, with emphasis on the differences;
and Chaucer's religious attitude, in contrast to Dante's, is related to
his age, which stressed the childhood and the humanity of Christ. In the
second study, Professor Spencer demonstrates that Chaucer's references
to Hell are based less on Dante than on medieval convention reflecting
elements from Scripture, Virgil, Claudian, Tundale, and St. Brandan. The
studies were originally published in Speculum, IX (July 1934),
295-301, and II, No. 2 (1927), 177-200, respectively.
Stanford, Derek. "Concealment and Revelation in T. S. Eliot." In Southwest Review, I, No. 1 (Winter 1965), 243-251.
Finds in Eliot's art elements of indirect approach attributable to Ezra
Pound and the Chinese poets; impersonalization of private feelings by means
of the objective correlative; and the influence of Dante.
Turner, Ralph V. "Descendit ad inferos: Medieval Views on Christ's Descent into Hell and the Salvation of the Ancient Just." In Journal of the History of Ideas, XXVII (April-June 1966), 173-194.
Surveys the views on salvation of the ancient just in the writings
of ten thinkers from Clement of Alexandria and Origen to the 13th-century
summarizers of Christian doctrine, St. Thomas Aquinas and Dante. The latter
is found to express the orthodox Augustinian view that the ancients, like
all men, were tainted with original sin and only those who had believed
in the future Mediator were delivered from their waiting period in Hell
by Christ's descent. The problem of which ancients did believe in a future
Redeemer remained, in Augustine's view, unfathomable. Despite his great
admiration for the pagan poets and philosophers, Dante was more severely
selective than even St. Thomas. For an appendix to this paper, see the
main section above, Studies, under C. I. Smith.
Webster, Grant T. "Keats's 'La Belle Dame': A New Source." In English Language Notes, in (Sept. 1965), 42-47.
Citing parallels in phraseology, the author submits that Keat's poem
long related to Inf. V, was prompted in part by Thomas Sackville's
"Induction" to the Mirror for Magistrates as presented
with a commentary and summary of Dante in Thomas Warton's History of
English Poetry (1774-1781).
White, William. "Shaw on Dante: Unpublished?" In Shaw Review, VIII (Sept. 1965), 111.
Reproduces Shaw's inscription in his copy of Dante's complete works
(Moore ed., 1909), now at the University of Texas Library, and asks if
this has been previously published.
Reviews
Dante. The Divine Comedy. Text and translation in the meter of the original by Geoffrey L. Bickersteth. Oxford: Published for the Shakespeare Head Press by Basil Blackwell; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 73-74, and LXXXV, 114.) Reviewed by:
[Anon.], in Times Literary Supplement, Dec. 2, 1965, p. 1105;
Edward Hutton, in Daily Telegraph, Sept. 9, 1965;
J[ohn] H. W[hitfield], in Italian Studies, XXI (1966), 104-107.
Dante. [Selected Poems] in Lyric Poetry of the Italian Renaissance, ed. L. R. Lind (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964. (See above, under Addenda.) Reviewed by:
J. A. Scott, in Italian Studies, XXI (1966), 117-118.
Andreach, Robert J. Studies in Structure: The Stages of the Spiritual Life in Four Modern Authors. New York: Fordham University Press, 1964. Discusses Dantean parallels in Joyce and Eliot. (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 108-109.) Reviewed by:
David A. Downes, in Renascence, XVIII (Spring 1966), 161-163;
Stephen Fender, in The Month (London), CCXX, N. S. XXXIV (Oct.
1965), 255-257.
Auerbach, Erich. Studi su Dante. Edited with an introduction by Dante Della Terza. Milano: Feltrinelli, 1963. (See 82nd Report, 48, 83rd Report, 58, and Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 106.) Reviewed by:
Aldo Vallone, in Alighieri, VI, No. I (1965), 95-96.
Bergin, Thomas G. An Approach to Dante. (Title of American edition: Dante.) London: The Bodley Head; Boston: Houghton Mifflin; New York: Orion Press, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 76, LXXXV, 115, and see above, main section, under Reviews.) Reviewed by:
Edward Hutton, In Daily Telegraph, Sept. 9, 1965;
Frank Kermode, in New Statesman, Jan. 7, 1966, p. 15;
Robert Sencourt, in Contemporary Review, CCVII (1965), 52-54;
J[ohn] H. W[hitfield], in Italian Studies, XXI (1966), 104-107.
Bigongiari, Dino. Essays on Dante and Medieval Culture . . . Firenze: Olschki, 1964. (See 83rd Report, 50-51, Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 106, and LXXXV, 115.) Reviewed by:
Andrea Ciotti, in Alighieri, VI, No. I (1965), 84-89;
Bruno Maier, In Rassegna della letteratura italiana, LXX (genn.-aprile 1966), 125;
Tommaso Pisanti, in Nuova antologia, CI, No. 1981 (1966), 105-106.
Books Abroad. Special Issue: "A Homage to Dante." (May 1965) (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 78, and see above, main section, under Reviews.) Reviewed by:
Bruno Maier, in Rassegna della letteratura italiana, LXX (genn.-aprile
1966), 127-129.
Cunningham, Gilbert F. The Divine Comedy in English: A Critical Bibliography, 1782-1900. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd; New York: Barnes and Noble, 1965. (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 82 and 107, LXXXV, 115, and see above, main section, under Reviews.) Reviewed by:
Edward Hutton, in Daily Telegraph, Sept. 9, 1965;
J[ohn] H. W[hitfield], in Italian Studies, XXI (1966), 104-107.
Italica, XLII, No. I (March 1965). Special Number: "A Homage to Dante." (See Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 89.) Reviewed by:
Bruno Maier, in Rassegna della letteratura italiana, LXX (1966),
126-127.
Mazzeo, Joseph A. Renaissance and Seventeenth Century Studies. New York: Columbia University Press, 1965. Contains an essay on "Hell vs. Hell: From Dante to Machiavelli," reprinted from Symposium, XVII (1963). (See 82nd Report, 53-54, and Dante Studies, LXXXIV, 110.) Reviewed by:
Earl Miner, in Italian Quarterly, X, No. 36-37 (Winter-Spring
1966), 97-101.
Segre, Cesare. Lingua, stile e società. Studi sulla storia della prosa italiana. Milano: Feltrinelli, [c 1963]. 439 p. 23 cm. (Critica e filologia; studi e manuali, I.) Contains substantial reference to Dante, especially to the Convivio as a milestone in the development of Italian as a vehicle for philosophic thought. Reviewed by:
Lionel J. Friedman, in Romance Philology, XX (Nov. 1966),
246-248.
State University of New York
Binghamton, New York