The Figure of Beatrice: A Study in Dante [Paperback]

Charles Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2000

Dante is unequalled among poets in conveying an extraordinary intensity of thought and experience, but this very power may make his work seem formidable to approach. Charles Williams's Figure of Beatriceis outstanding amongst Dante scholarship and criticism for the sympathetic enthusiasm and clarity with which he eases that approach without simplifying the achievement in a highly personal introduction to Dante's work. The first half of the book traces the way in which the central image of Beatrice, representing transcendent beauty in feminine form, animates Dante's earlier works. The second half richly expounds The Divine Comedy, meditating on its significance in Dantesque terms. Williams foreshadows the valuable modern emphasis on Dante as philosopher-poet; he also touches on many later concerns in Dante criticism, including ambiguities of language, the inherent self-contradiction of all powerful discourse, and the place of the feminine. The Figure of Beatrice is also a moving and poetic work in its own right

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

CHARLES WILLIAMS(1886-1945) is known to many as a prolific and unusual playwright, novelist and critic; his poetic works include `Taliessin through Logres' and `The Region of the Summer Stars'.

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: D.S.Brewer (February 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0859914453
• ISBN-13: 978-0859914451
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #701,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A classic study., September 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Figure of Beatrice: A Study in Dante (Paperback)

This is a classic study of Dante's _Divine Comedy_, by Charles Williams, who was, among other things, a close friend and colleague of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. If one wants a solid critical interpretation of Dante's masterpiece from the neo-Romantic (and commitedly Christian) perspective of mid-century Oxford medievalist scholars, there is no better book. It's clearly written by a fellow who knows his stuff-- and it has been a major influence on how others (especially other Oxfordian Christians) have viewed the Commedia. (Those folks familiar with Dorothy Sayers' translations of Dante know that all of her notes and comments are pretty much cribbed wholesale from Williams...) Still, this book was written a half-century ago, and many of its assumptions, approaches, and insights seem a bit old-fashioned-- and there are a lot of new perspectives and questions in Dante scholarship that it just doesn't discuss at all. Nevertheless, it remains an insightful study that offers astute insight into Dante's art, and though dated in some ways, it is by no means outdated.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Theology of Romantic Love, May 9, 2003

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Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Figure of Beatrice: A Study in Dante (Paperback)

Ben Sem, Ben Sem--We are, We are Beatrice. Not knowing or understanding much of Dante, I can nevertheless not forget what Charles Williams wrote about him, as about the above quotation from The Divine Comedy. Dante's heaven-sent guide announces "we are," not "I am Beatrice," speaking in unity with the Cloud of Witnesses, the testimony of the saints and out of the relationship of the divine life which is realized in heaven.

But Williams could almost say "We are Charles Williams," because he somehow seems to be such a kindred soul with Dante, and so attuned to the poet's thought that the effect of hearing or reading him on Dante was and is magnetic--so much so that Dorothy L. Sayers taught herself Italian and translated Dante's Divine Comedy in three volumes for Penguin Books (the Paradiso was completed by her student, Barbara Reynolds). Sayers dedicated her translations to "Charles Williams, The Master of the Ways." The Ways referred to are the way of rejection and the way of affirmation, two sorts of spiritual paths explained in this, and many other Williams volumes.

But she was not the only one to so lionize CW. C.S.Lewis wrote similarly in his Preface to Paradise Lost that Williams had revolutionized Milton criticism. Apparently the door was unlocked all the time, Lewis wryly notes, but only you (CW) thought of trying the handle. Who else did this supposedly obscure and unremarkable British writer influence? How about Canadian poet and singer Bruce Cockburn in his albums Dancing in the Dragon Jaws and Humans (the latter often considered one of his best albums)?

If Charles Williams did have a fault as a writer, it was that he tended to write too telegraphically, almost in a kind of shorthand, assuming his readers were with him when some of them, at least, would be lost. This happens in The Forgiveness of Sins, which assumes a good grasp of Shakespeare, and He Came Down From Heaven, which assumes a good grasp on everything else. Some of his essays do this also, particularly his book reviews, which assume that in reading the review one has also read the book. His reviews of some writers, however, such as D.H. Lawrence, and for that matter, St. Augustine, are so lively and unforgettable that they have long outlived their time. Of his nonfiction works, The Descent of the Dove (subtitled a History of the Holy Spirit in the Church) and The Figure of Beatrice flow the best and assume the least. Oddly enough, you can read the latter knowing nothing about Dante and the former knowing nothing about the Holy Spirit and learn a lot about both. Better yet, you learn a lot about Williams. Once one has met him, his trademark style is unmistakeable and for readers like me who have fallen under his spell, greatly compelling. There is no other writer like Charles WIlliams and no better place to meet him than in The Figure of Beatrice.