Dante Encyclopedia (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) [Hardcover]

Richard Lansing (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0815316593 | ISBN-13: 978-0815316596 | Publication Date: April 6, 2000

The Dante Encyclopedia is a comprehensive resource that presents a systematic introduction to Dante's life and works and the cultural context in which his moral and intellectual imagination took shape.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In the English-speaking world, Dante has the status of a great unknown. His reputation is secure; his Inferno, with its scrupulously organized tiers of punishment, is a byword and a blessing for satirists and artists; his life and works are the subjects of a steady, enthusiastic stream of secondary literature. Yet the whole of his work is little understood. Few readers ever advance beyond the first portion of his mighty poem to its conclusion in Heaven; fewer still ever gain a sufficient understanding of his context, of the nuances of his response to his world, or of the complexity of his approach to style, language, and religious belief. One mark of the incompleteness of our knowledge is that this immense new reference work on Dante is almost unprecedented in our language, as Lansing (Italian studies, Brandeis Univ.) points out. This work includes entries on all principal characters in the Divina Commedia, as well as on his other writings, the tortured politics of his day, the formative theology of St. Thomas Aquinas, translations into English, metrics, and the reputation of Dante in other countries and centuries. Especially valuable are judicious articles on hotly debated questions, such as the meaning of Dante's ambiguous Ulysses in the Inferno or the true identity of the Matelda of the Purgatorio. The back matter contains some marvelous additional resources, including an exhaustive listing of musical settings of the Commedia, and a list of the Popes and Holy Roman Emperors down to Dante's day. Some of the articles are needlessly dry, but on the whole, this new resource is hard to fault. An indispensable reference work for most libraries, it is an excellent point of entry for readers eager to probe the deeper mysteries of this great genius's work. Highly recommended.DGraham Christian, formerly with Andover-Harvard Theological Lib., Cambridge, MA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

This massive but highly readable reference work can be used often by educators and general readers alike...it has remarkable consistency of style, content, and space....This information makes interesting reading. High level of clarity, insight, and sophistication is maintained throughout....."-American Reference Books Annual

..."a splendid work, highly recommended for all academic libraries concerned with the humanities." -Choice

'...almost unprecedented in our language... An indispensable reference work for most libraries... Highly recommended." -Library Journal (starred review)

"Comprehensive and authoritative, offering the reader access to both Dante's personal genius, as well as the time in which he lived....the "Dante Encyclopedia returns real value for the investment. Both serious Dante scholars and undergraduates studying him for the first time will benefit from this reference. It is an encyclopedia that does justice to its subject, and that is saying a lot."-Against the Grain

"The premier English-language reference source on Dante.... Comp lit will never be the same."-College and Research Libraries News

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1040 pages
• Publisher: Garland Publishing (April 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815316593
• ISBN-13: 978-0815316596
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,420,871 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The New Dante Reference of Choice, July 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dante Encyclopedia (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) (Hardcover)

Prof. Richard Lansing's Dante Encyclopedia is a reference work of deep interest, wide scope, and unimpeachable authority. General readers, students, and scholars--especially those who are English-based--are bound to make this volume their Dante reference of choice. Hundreds of clear, intelligent, and up-to-date entries from today's best-respected Dante scholars discuss every person and place mentioned in Dante's works as well as a vast number of biographical, historical, and cultural topics. The encyclopedia will appeal to anyone who is looking for a better appreciation of the poet's background, achievement, and critical legacy.

The maps and schematic drawings at the beginning of the encyclopedia are the best of their kind. The text is interspersed with an abundance of fine photographs and illustrations. Appended to the work are a detailed and reliable chronology of the poet's life, useful lists of the popes and emperors, a chronology of musical settings of Dante's Comedy, a list of available recordings of these settings, a list of reference works (including electronic resources), a complete pronouncing index, with textual citations, of the Italian and Latin proper names used by Dante, and an exhaustive index of subjects and illustrations.

So big, so accurate and comprehensive, the Dante Encyclopedia completely supersedes its predecessors and promises to remain authoritative for many years. No college or university, no lover of poetry and world literature will want to be without it.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last a reasonable encyclopedia in English!, May 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dante Encyclopedia (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) (Hardcover)

A fantastic accomplishment! As a longtime Dante enthusiast, I have been waiting for something in English (my Italian not being up to snuff yet) that combines breadth with depth.

As my own metric, I like to pick a topic that is not altogether esoteric and that is the subject of at least several competing theories. In studying Dante, that topic for me is numerology. I was especially pleased to read the article on numerology because the Dante Encyclopedia fairly explained the competing theories on the use of numerology by Dante. Never have I seen one source that provides the in-depth overview that this book does. For the serious student of the classics, this is a must-have! Gracie! And bravo!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing piece of scholarship, June 20, 2010

By 

Glenn Corey "book fiend" (Canton, OH, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dante Encyclopedia (Paperback)

At the risk of sounding like an advertisement or a parrot of the other reviewers, I just wish to add my praise to that already expressed. This is one amazing piece of scholarship. The editor clearly thought very deeply about the organization of this work. It is comprehensive, even exhaustive, well written, and well organized. The bibliographical apparatus included at the end of the major entries will be of great benefit to anyone who wishes to pursue a topic in more depth. For lovers of Dante, this is a work of first-rate scholarship. Can't recommend it highly enough.