Dante's Fearful Art of Justice / Anthony Cassell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cassell, Anthony., author.

Series:

Heritage

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321. Divina commedia.

Dante Alighieri.

Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321--Ethics.

Retribution in literature.

Justice in literature.

Divina commedia (Dante Alighieri).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (225 pages, 22 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press 1984

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Dante's Fearful Art of Justice deals primarily with the symbolic significance of 'the state of souls after death' in various episodes of the Inferno, the first canticle of Dante's Divina Commedia. The fruitlessness of the Auerbach-Singleton approach to the poem is demonstrated by Professor Cassell's investigations, which are based on the belief that Dante used both the theological system of fourfold allegory and the preconfiguration-fulfilment pattern of history found in the Old and New Testaments.The author first deals with the history of contrapassum, 'just retribution,' as it appeared in philosophy and theology, and describes Dante's use of historical and artistic figuration, both classical and Christian. It is central to Cassell's aim to show how Dante believed that his portrayal of the damned revealed the justice of God. Critics have believed that the relation of sin to the suffering of the shades in Hell was tenuous or even arbitrary in many cases. Cassell shows, through a close examination of Dante's assimilation of the Classics (and their medieval interpretations), or patristics, and of traditional iconography, that there is an intimate metaphorical and artistic aptness in the poet's representation. Cassell relies at some points on art history, and thirty-four illustrations of frescoes, statuary, and illuminations from paleo-Christian times to the fourteenth century are therefore included.This volume will be of particular interest to medieval specialists, historians of the Renaissance and Reformation periods, and those concerned with European literature.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note on Works Cited and Abbreviations

1 Justice and the Contrapasso

2 Farinata

3 Pier Delia Vigna

4 Avarice and Suicide

5 The Gran Veglio

6 The Idolaters

7 Ulysses

8 Satan

List of Plates

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed June 01., 2017)

ISBN:

1-4426-5453-8

1-4426-5260-8

OCLC:

992527699