Dante's Lyric Redemption: Eros, Salvation, Vernacular Tradition (Oxford Modern Languages and Literature Monographs)

Dante's Lyric Redemption offers a re-examination of two strongly interrelated aspects of the poet's work: the role and value he ascribes to earthly love and his relationship to the Romance lyric tradition of his time. It argues that an account of Dante's poetic journey that posits a stark division between earthly and divine love, and between the secular lyric poet and the Christian auctor, does little justice to his highly distinctive and often polemical handling of these categories. The book firstly contextualizes, traces, and accounts for Dante's intriguing commitment to love poetry, from the 'minor works' to the Commedia. It highlights his attempts, especially in his masterpiece, to overcome normative oppositions in formulating a uniquely redemptive vernacular poetics, one oriented towards the eternal while rooted in his affective, and indeed erotic, past. It then examines how this matter is at stake in Dante's treatment of three important lyric predecessors: Guittone d'Arezzo, Arnaut Daniel, and Folco of Marseilles. Through a detailed reading of Dante's engagement with these poets, the book illuminates his careful departure from a dualistic model of love and conversion and shows his erotic commitment to be at the heart of his claims to pre-eminence as a vernacular author. Cover 1 Dante ́s Lyric Redemption: Eros, Salvation, Vernacular Tradition 4 Copyright 5 Acknowledgements 6 Contents 8 Editions Followed and Abbreviations 10 Introduction 12 PART I: Dante ́s Poetics of Integration 22 1: Love, Authority, and Vernacular Poetry 24 1.1 Eros and Spirituality 24 1.2 Authority and Subjectivity 48 1.3 Vernacular and Latin 58 2: Dante ́s Commedia between Dualism and Integration 71 2.1 Inferno: Lyric Redemption/ Lyric Perdition 72 2.2 Purgatorio: Earthly Loves Denigrated and Recuperated 80 2.3 Paradiso: Erotics of Salvation 91 PART II: Negotiating Precursors 102 3: Guittone d ́Arezzo 104 3.1 Dante ́s Vita Nova and Guittone ́s (Anti-)Courtly `Canzoniere ́ 109 3.2 `D ́amor Non Punto ́: Guittone and Dante as Ethical Lyricists 138 4: Arnaut Daniel 166 4.1 Arnaut ́s Poetics Of Desire 170 4.2 `Nos Eum Secuti Sumus ́: Dante ́s Kinship With Arnaut 192 4.3 `Miglior Fabbro ́: Arnaut in the Commedia 206 5: Folco of Marseilles 216 5.1 (Anti-)Courtly Conversions: Folco, Guittone, Dante 226 5.2 Continuity and Conversion in the Heaven of Venus 234 5.3 Folco, Dido, Dante: Eros, Gender, and Conversion 246 Conclusion 258 Bibliography 260 1. Primary Texts Not Listed Under Abbreviations 260 2. Secondary Texts 261 Index 282 Dante's Lyric Redemption Uses Dante's Relationship To Some Important Italian And Provencal Writers Of His Time To Highlight His Radical And Distinctive Handling Of The Relationship Between Erotic Love And Salvation. Rather Than Regarding Earthly Love Simply As An Obstacle To Salvation, Dante Proposes His Unique Brand Of Erotic Love As A Redemptive Force And Pathway To God. The Book Offers A New Response To The Debated Question Of The Value That Danteascribes To Earthly Love In His Divine Comedy And A Detailed Reappraisal Of His Relationship To Three Key Medieval Poets: Guittone D'arezzo, Arnaut Daniel, And Folco Of Marseilles.