In the footsteps of Dante: crossroads of European humanism

Teresa Bartolomei (Editor), João R. Figueiredo (Editor)

Research output: Book/ReportEdited bookpeer-review

Abstract

Dante, the pilgrim, is the image of an author who stubbornly looks ahead, seeking and building the "Great Beyond" (Manguel). Following in his footsteps is therefore not a return to the past, going à rebours, but a commitment to the future, to exploring the potential of humanity to "transhumanise". This dynamic of self-transcendence in Dante's humanism (Ossola), which claims for European civilisation a vocation for universalism (Ferroni), is analysed in the volume at three crucial moments: Firstly, the establishment of an emancipatory relationship between author and reader (Ascoli), in which authorship is authority and not power; secondly, the conception of vision as a learning process and horizon of eschatological overcoming (Mendonça); finally, the relationship with the past, which is never purely monumental, but ethically and intertextually dynamic, in an original rewriting of the original scriptural, medieval, and classical culture (Nasti, Bolzoni, Bartolomei). A second group of contributions is dedicated to the reconstruction of Dante's presence in Portuguese literature (Almeida, Espírito Santo, Figueiredo, Marnoto, Vaz de Carvalho): they attest to the innovative impact of Dante's work even in literary traditions more distant from it.

Original languageEnglish
PublisherDe Gruyter
Number of pages297
ISBN (Electronic)9783110796049
ISBN (Print)9783110795943
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Jan 2023
EventDays of Dante 2021 - Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation , Lisbon, Portugal
Duration: 16 Sept 202129 Nov 2021

Publication series

NameMimesis
PublisherGrutyer
Volume99
ISSN (Print)0178-7489

Keywords

  • 13th-15th century
  • Italian literature
  • Literary history
  • Literary studies
  • Romance literature

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