The Poetry of Dante's Paradiso

This book argues that Paradiso Dante's vision of Heaven is not simply affirmative. It posits that Paradiso compensates for disappointment rather than fulfils hopes, and where it moves into joy and vision, this also rationalises the experience of exile and the failure of all Dante's political hopes. The book highlights and addresses a fundamental problem in reading Dante: the assumption that he writes as a Catholic Christian, which can be off-putting and induces an overly theological and partisan reading in some commentary. Accordingly, the study argues that Dante must be read now in a post-Christian modernity. It discusses Dante's Christianity fully, and takes its details as a source of wonder and beauty which need communicating to a modern reader. Yet, the study also argues that we must read for the alterity of Dante's world from ours.

A full-scale reading of Dante's Paradiso that incorporates contemporary and historical Dante scholarship and modern critical theory Reads the text as 'modern', and balances both Dante's theology and present-day secularity Draws on modern theoretical work on allegory, psychoanalysis, gender, and deconstruction

Autorentext

Jeremy Tambling is Professor of English at SWPS Warsaw (University of Social Sciences and Humanities), Poland. Prior to this, he was Professor of Literature at Manchester University, UK, and Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He has written widely on Dante, psychoanalysis, urban literary studies, and Victorian literature. Previous publications on Dante include Dante and Difference: Writing in the Commedia (1988), Dante: A Critical Reader (ed.1999), and Dante in Purgatory: States of Affect (2012).

Klappentext

This book argues that Paradiso Dante s vision of Heaven is not simply affirmative. It posits that Paradiso compensates for disappointment rather than fulfils hopes, and where it moves into joy and vision, this also rationalises the experience of exile and the failure of all Dante s political hopes. The book highlights and addresses a fundamental problem in reading Dante: the assumption that he writes as a Catholic Christian, which can be off-putting and induces an overly theological and partisan reading in some commentary. Accordingly, the study argues that Dante must be read now in a post-Christian modernity. It discusses Dante's Christianity fully, and takes its details as a source of wonder and beauty which need communicating to a modern reader. Yet, the study also argues that we must read for the alterity of Dante s world from ours.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: On Reading Paradiso: Dante's Dualism.- 2. Chapter 1: The Inconstant Moon, Paradiso and the Feminine.- 3. Chapter 2: Mercury: Roman History.- 4. Chapter 3: Poetry and the Violence of Venus.- 5. Chapter 4: 'Dancing in the Sun: The Trinity in Motion' (Paradiso 10-14).- 6. Chapter 5: 'Mars and Mutilation: Florence and the Baptist'.- 7. Chapter 6: 'Time and Chronology in Jupiter and Saturn' (Paradiso 18-22).- 8. Chapter 7: 'Fixed Stars and Diasporic Times: Paradiso 22-27'.- 9. Chapter 8: 'Dante's Angels: Paradiso 28 and 29'.- 10. Chapter 9: 'The Ultimate Vision: Multiple Relationships: Paradiso 30-33'.