Nick Havely

This is the first account of Dante's reception in English to address full chronological span of that process. Individual authors and periods have been studied before, but Dante's British Public takes a wider and longer view, using a selection of vivid and detailed case studies to record and place in context some of the wider conversations about and appropriations of Dante that developed in Britain across more than six centuries, as access to his work extended and diversified. Much of the evidence is based on previously unpublished material in (for example) letters, journals, annotations and inventories and is drawn from archives in the UK and across the world, from Milan to Mumbai and from Berlin to Cape Town. Throughout, the role of Anglo-Italian cultural contacts and intermediaries in shaping the public understanding of Dante in Britain is given prominence - from clerics and merchants around Chaucer's time, through itinerant scholars, collectors and tourists in the early modern period, to the exiles and expatriates of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The final chapter brings the story up to the present, showing how the poet's work has been seen (from the fourteenth century onwards) as accessible to 'the many', and demonstrating some of the means by which Dante has reached a yet wider British public over the past century, particularly through translation, illustration, and various forms of performance.

Readers and Texts, from the Fourteenth Century to the Present

Dante's British Public

N. R. Havely

Dante's British Public deals with the many and various ways in which the work of the leading poet of medieval Europe was acquired, represented and discussed by British readers over the course of more than six centuries. Accessibly written and using a wealth of vivid examples and case studies, it draws upon a wide range of previously unpublished material (letters, journals, annotations, and inventories) from archives across the world. It will be ofinterest to those engaged in comparative literary studies, as well as to those with a general interest in cultural studies, the history of the book, and the history of ideas.

Emeritus Professor of English & Related Literature Nick Havely

Nicholas Rustom Havely

Havely examines the connections between Dante, the Franciscans and the Papacy in the thinking underlying various aspects of the Commedia. He offers a detailed account of the Franciscans in late Medieval and early Renaissance Italy, which will be of interest to scholars of church history as well as literary scholars.

Poverty and the Papacy in the 'Commedia'

Dante and the Franciscans

Helen Phillips

Dream literature is regarded as one of the most important genres in medieval literature and is widely studied. This text provides a succinct and clear introduction to the five central poems that comprise Chaucer's Dream Poetry, and shows his role as a leading adapter of European Literary tradition into English Literature. The poems discussed are The Book of the Duchess, The Legend of Good Women, The Legend of Dido, The Parliament of Fowls and The House of Fame. Each have an introduction setting the poem within the context of Dream Poetry and Chaucer's own work. Appendices of proper names, pronunciation and criticism are also given. This volume is unique is presenting the poems together in an editorial and critical framework. The quality of annotation is unrivalled and will make this text a major addition to the literature suitable for those interested in the genre, literary, or more general history of the period.

Chaucer's Dream Poetry

Dante's persistent and pervasive presence has been a remarkable feature of modern writing since the late eighteenth century. This collection of essays by an international group of scholars emphasizes that presence in the work of major British and Irish writers (such as Blake, Shelley, Joyce and Heaney). It also focuses on responses in America, the Caribbean and Italy and deals with appropriations of Dante's work by poets (from Gray to Walcott) and novelists (such as Mary Shelley and Giorgio Bassani, and Gloria Naylor).

Reception and Response from Blake to Heaney

Dante's Modern Afterlife

A comprehensive guide to Dante’s life and literature, with an emphasis on his Commedia. This text looks at the influences that shaped Dante’s writing, and the reception of his work by later readers, from the 14th century to the present. Introduces Dante through four main approaches: the context of his life and career; his literary and cultural traditions; key themes, episodes and passages in his own work, especially the Commedia; and the reception and appropriation of his work by later readers, from the fourteenth century to the present Written by an expert Dante scholar Provides new translations of substantial passages from Dante’s poems and from the world of his contemporaries Includes explanatory diagrams of Dante’s 'other-worlds', and a section of illustrations by medieval and modern artists Builds a vivid and complex picture of Dante's imagination, intellect and literary presence Helpful bibliographies include relevant web resources

Dante

Aida Audeh

This collection of essays provides an account of Dante's reception in a range of media-visual art, literature, theatre, cinema, and music-from the late eighteenth century through to the early twentieth and explores various appropriations and interpretations of his works and persona during the era of modernization in Europe, the USA, and beyond.

Nick Havely

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