Customer Reviews

Dante: The Poetics of Conversion

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the most original text's in the north-american tradition of Dante studies. After that must be red "The Undivine Commedy" by Theodolinda Barolini...

This was the first book I read on Dante. It is a collection of marvelous little essays, well-presented and well-written on particular aspects of the Comedy. Since it was the first thing I read, I was a little lost (Freccero makes no attempt to integrate his essays with the larger narrative and, since his purpose is to cast a spotlight on particular limited episodes to show how the fit within the whole, one can hardly blame him). This book is a bit advanced for the beginner who is probably better off withDante: A Brief History (Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion)or A Modern Reader's Guide to Dante's the Divine Comedy. I prefer Hawkins. Gallagher is more religious; Hawkins more scholarly. And of course, there is my own book that splits the difference Dante's Journey: A Field Guide to the Infernal Regions