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Dante (Penguin Lives Series)

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Lewis's short biography of Dante is a pleasure to read. But at the end of it, one discovers that the book's subject is still elusive.

Lewis shines in setting the background against which Dante lived and wrote, helping those who aren't specialists in the tortured politics of 13th and 14th century Florence orient themselves in that whirlwind world. He also does a good job of describing the passion young Dante acquired for Beatrice and how his love influenced his ambitions as a poet. Finally, Lewis provides a pretty good walkthrough of Dante's poetic journey through hell, purgatory and paradise.

But in all fairness, most people who read this book will probably be more or less familiar with all three of these topics. My guess is that what they'll yearn for is a better understanding of who Dante the man was, an understanding that plumbs more deeply than the usual stories about Beatrice and Florentine feuds do.

Lewis's book won't help there. Dante the man remains elusive, hidden behind his poetry and the images. This isn't necessarily a criticism of Lewis's book. Dante is something of an enigma, even more so than many other poets. It may well be that no biographer can reveal Dante as he was to us of us who live today, half a millenium later.

DANTE by RWB Lewis is my introduction to the Penguin Lives series and if this is representative of the full series, I'm reading every volume. In 205 pages, in graceful prose that never flags, Lewis deftly sketches the life of Dante Alighieri and the times in which he lived, and, very important, offers a reading of his greatest works. The early Florentine Renaissance was a period fraught with political turmoil and Lewis does a good job of sorting out the factions and turns of events and their impact on Dante's life. His rereading of Dante's works is generous--no need to have read the masterpieces recently or perhaps at all to learn from this and gain an appreciation. In fact, this book would make a fine introduction to a study of THE DIVINE COMEDY. Lewis shares his own wonder and pleasure in Dante's work, and when he cites the original Italian lines, to provide an idea of their flavor, he always provides a translation.

A pleasurable biography from beginning to end. The book interweaves literature, love and religion all together in an intelligent understanding of the complexities that shaped this great artist. The book manages to illuminate the known facts of Dante's life and capture key moments in his life. Details vividly his wanderings through Tuscan hills and splendid churches to his days as a young soldier fighting for democracy to his civic leadership and years of exile from the city that would reclaim him a century later. It truly is a masterpiece of self-discovery describing the life and work of one of the world's greatest medieval poets.

FinancialNeeds.com

This is one of several volumes in the Penguin Lives Series, each of which written by a distinguished author in her or his own right. Each provides a concise but remarkably comprehensive biography of its subject in combination with a penetrating analysis of the significance of that subject's life and career. I think this is a brilliant concept. My only regret is that even an abbreviated index is not provided. Those who wish to learn more about the given subject are directed to other sources.

When preparing to review various volumes in this series, I have struggled with determining what would be of greatest interest and assistance to those who read my reviews. Finally I decided that a few brief excerpts and then some concluding comments of my own would be appropriate.

On Dante's masterpiece: "The Commedia, to which the adjective Divina was affixed two centuries afterward, is, all things considered, the greatest single poem ever written; and in one perspective, as has been said, it is autobiographical: the journey of a man to find himself and make himself after having been cruelly mistreated in his homeland. It is also a rhythmic exploration of the entire cultural world Dante had inherited: classical, pre-Christian, Christian, medieval, Tuscan, and emphatically Florentine. And it is the long poetic tribute to Beatrice Portinari which Dante promised, at the end of the Vita Nuova." (pages 12 and 13)

On Dante's response to Beatrice's death: He "did more than write an occasional poem of memorial grief; he put together the work to which he gave the title La Vita Nuova di Dante Alighieri. It was essentially an act of compilation, probably begun in 1293 and finished two years later. Dante drew up[ a narrative account of his relationship with Beatrice Portinari, from his first sight of her at the May Day party in 1274 to her death sixteen years later, sprinkling through it the poems -- canzones, sonnets, a ballad -- written to enshrine each successive moment." (page 59)

On progression in the Paradiso: In it, "Dante ascends; he does not climb, as in the Purgatorio, but, as he is constantly remarking, is propelled upward with the speed of an arrow. He is swept up through the lower planets -- the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn; into the Fixed Stars; then upwards to the Primum Mobile, when come all distinctions of space and time, of 'where' and 'when,' through itself beyond space and time; to the Empyrean, the actual and eternal dwelling-place of the Three-in-One God, of the angels and the saints, of the community of the blessed." (page 170)

In the concluding portion of his biography, Lewis briefly but eloquently suggests the ubiquitous and energizing presence of Dante in English and American literature, notably in the works of Shelley, Byron, Robert Browning, Rossetti, Emerson, Pound, Eliot, and Warren. According to Lewis, that presence "sparkles and sings and smiles like one of the spirits in Paradise." The same can be said of Lewis' writing style which, in combination with his erudition, enables the modern reader to gain a greater appreciation of someone who lived more than 600 years ago but whose Comedy is as contemporary as tomorrow's sunrise.

As is also true of the other volumes in the "Penguin Lives" series, this one provides all of the essential historical and biographical information but its greatest strength lies in the extended commentary, in this instance by R.W.B. Lewis. He also includes a brief but sufficient "Bibliographical Notes" section for those who wish to learn more about Dante. I hope these brief excerpts encourage those who read this review to read Lewis' biography. It is indeed a brilliant achievement.

The Peguin Lives series thrives on its clever and sometimes surprising pairings of subjects and writers, often non-specialists with a more personal take on the life. Giving Dante to a Yale English professor isn't the most inspired choice, though Lewis's expertise is mainly American lit. The book shows the marks of several pleasant vacations in Tuscany, with brief pen portraits of the various sites and geographical features that shaped Dante's world providing most of the color in an otherwise dry march through the facts of his life. Lewis often circles back to people or scenes described earlier in the work, which is either a tribute to Dante's own narrative style or a sign of slack editing. If you don't know something about Dante already, this isn't the book to convince you he's one of the world's great writers, or to help explain why. But for a quick tourist map of a complex place and time, it's a short, effective read.

Prior to this biography on Dante, R. W. B. Lewis had established himself as one of the leading authorities on Edith Wharton and had also written a book about Florence. Although he is not widely acknowledged as a Dante scholar, this brief volume is testimony to his obvious love for Florence's greatest poet. Unlike many brief biographies of great literary figures, this is a remarkably balanced account of Dante's life and career. Given the strictures on what can be covered in a small number of pages, other biographers of other writers often focus on an individual's life to the near exclusion of all else, or on the greater cultural context of their work, or on a discussion of the writings, ignoring the writer's world and life. Lewis strikes a marvelous balance between explaining the historical-especially the political-context for Dante's life, in detailing the significant biographical moments that informed his career (including most of what we know about his limited encounters with Beatrice), and the development of his art. Lewis's skill in refusing to neglect any significant aspect of Dante's life and work is laudable.

Lewis's narrative progresses chronologically on a number of parallel levels. He reverts on several occasions to Dante's genealogy, on the political situation in Florence in the conflict between the Ghibellines (who favored the claims of the Holy Roman Emperor in Europe) and the Guelphs (who favored the Pope and later split into the Black and White Guelphs, Dante being associated with the latter), Dante's platonic adoration of Beatrice, the development of Dante's poetry, Dante's role in the government of Florence, his eventual banishment from Florence, and the composition and content of his COMEDY. I was especially encouraged by the number of theological figures who were crucial to Dante and essential for understanding the theological structure of the COMEDY.

I do have a couple of minor criticisms. One is that Lewis isn't always as sharp in his exposition as he clearly is capable of being. There are also some curiosities, such as his comments near the end identifying Robert Penn Warren as "the most complete man of letters of our time," a good if not great writer whom I believe will be largely forgotten in as little as twenty-five years (one wonders if Warren and Lewis were close friends). There is an annotated biography, but most of the secondary works Lewis discusses are either out of print or not readily available, while many key contemporary texts dealing with Dante are omitted, such as Freccero's THE POETICS OF CONVERSION. And how could any discussion of translations omit Singleton's, which is easily one of the highpoints of Dante scholarship in the past half century? Two other small complaints: no index and no chronology of Dante's life. My own feeling is that there is never justification for not including an index in an academic book; the omission sharply reduces the book's usability. Even in a short biography a chronology is useful, allowing one to make rapid comparisons between the various events in a writer's life and their work.

Nonetheless, for most readers of Dante in English, this brief biography will serve as a superb introduction to both Dante's life and his work.

This is an excellent overview of the age and community in which Dante lived and wrote. Not at all comprehensive, it gives a surprising insight into the great poet and his works, and it makes for enjoyable reading. I found myself stimulated to read more in this area, in order to understand better the influence that Dante's works have had on Western civilization and literature over the past seven centuries.

Several years ago I read The Divine Comedy. I've had some sense that Dante was a poet whose influence has rippled through the centuries. I'd even seen The prime of Miss Jean Brodie and the great scene where her class stares at Maggie Smith as she is lost in romantic musings about Dante and his Beatrice. But now, having read R.W.B. Lewis' Dante, part of the wonderful series Penguin Lives, I finally know something about the poet himself. Under the author's tutelage I was transported to 14th century Florence--its feuds and political upheavals--and the wonderful Dante soon to be exiled for life. This short, loving biography is a great filler-in of missing history and incomplete understandings. I recommend it to all serious readers of literature.

DANTE is one of the installments in "The Penguin Lives Series": relatively short and informal biographies written by noted people of letters (though not necessarily scholars) about figures that interest them. In principle, I applaud the series. Usually, what I want from a biography is an informed "feel" for the person in question; I don't need or want to know how she celebrated her twelfth birthday or why he cut off relations with his cousin over the arrangements made for his aunt's funeral.

I was completely satisfied with the two other entries in The Penguin Lives Series that I have read, but I can't say the same for R.W.B. Lewis's DANTE. I concede that my relative indifference to the book may not be entirely Lewis's fault. It may be that there is a relative dearth of biographical information about Dante Aligheri - at least the sort of information that modern sensibilities would regard as objective and reliable, as opposed to the sort of stuff contained in panegyrics from 500 years ago. (In some ways, Dante is almost as remote as his idol, Virgil.) And I probably would have appreciated the book more, and perhaps have gotten more out of it, if I had already read "The Divine Comedy", rather than undertake to read the biography as preparation for reading that classic.

In any event, Lewis provides the basic facts of Dante's life (b. 1265, d. 1321), and he does a good job, given the constraints of the format, presenting the historical, social, and political background for Dante's life, especially the significance of Florence, from which he was exiled for the last two decades of his life. "Florence was not merely his birthplace; it was the very context of his being. * * * [O]n one level, the `Comedy' is an expression of his passionate feelings about Florence, his rage against the conspirators who had driven him out, his longing to return."

Lewis also gives moderate attention to the various literary works of Dante, foremost, of course, being "The Divine Comedy". For Lewis, it is, "all things considered, the greatest single poem ever written." About 60 of the book's 200 pages are devoted to commentary on the poem (at times, more in the nature of an exegesis). Much of those 60 pages were rather tedious, perhaps because I have not (yet) read "The Divine Comedy".

In the end, my principal criticism of the book - its principal failing, for me - was that I did not come away with much of a "feel" for Dante Aligheri. Nor - though this is not why I read the book - did I come away with any better sense of why Dante, from a literary perspective, is generally regarded to be one of the greatest poets ever. I did end up with a few unresolved questions. For example: how was it that Dante, in the late 1280's, was able to write and publicize famous poems about his sacred, undying love for Beatrice while he was married to Gemma Donati and Beatrice was married to Simone de' Bardi, without any apparent repercussions for either marriage? Perhaps my asking that question reveals the Philistine in me.

Dante was the poet historian of Florence, its passionate official, and its bitter and frustrated exile. His life became entangled in the old European struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, two names derived from two noble combative houses of Germany, the Welf and Weiblingen. The Guelphs, so long the leaders of Florence, fell to quarreling with each other. In the fall of 1301 war broke out between the White Guelpohs and the Black Guelphs. The Blacks, who favored the nobles over the merchants, summoned Dante to appear to answer charges of corruption during his previous administration. When he failed to show, he was condemned to death. Dante never set foot in Florence again. Dante got his revenge, as writers often do, by writing about his enemies. In this case the writing was the Comedia, subsequently dubbed the Divine Comedy. Having taken two college courses in Dante and one given by Richard Howard, I think there was nothing in this little book that I didn't know or wasn't familiar with. And there was nothing in it that was wrong or controversial. I recommend it as a good way to start your study of Dante and I commend it as a good way to get up to speed on the life and times of the poet that Yeats said started modern poetry.