Reading Dante in Renaissance Italy: Florence, Venice, and the 'Divine Poet'

Simon Gilson’s new volume provides the first in-depth account of
the critical and editorial reception in Renaissance Italy, particularly
Florence, Venice and Padua, of the work of Dante Alighieri
(1265– 1321). Gilson investigates a range of textual frameworks and
related contexts that influenced the way in which Dante’s work was
produced and circulated, from editing and translation to commentaries,
criticism and public lectures. In so doing he modifies the
received notion that Dante and his work were eclipsed during the
Renaissance. Central themes of investigation include the contestation
of Dante’s authority as a ‘classic’ writer and the various forms
of attack and defence employed by his detractors and partisans. The
book pays close attention not only to the Divine Comedy but also to
the Convivio and other of Dante’s writings, and explores the ways in
which the reception of these works was affected by contemporary
developments in philology, literary theory, philosophy, theology, science
and printing.