num_pages: 466
description: Dante is one of the towering figures in world literature and yet many riddles and questions about his life and work persist. In the first full-length biography of him in more than twenty years Barbara Reynolds offers provocative new ideas in every chapter. For example many have read the Commedia as a lyrical parable about reward and punishment; Reynolds suggests that Dante was arguing against the Pope and for an Emperor as supreme secular authority of medieval Europe. Drawing from an impressive array of sources Reynolds delivers a comprehensive analysis of the poet placing him within the context of his culture and society to deepen our understanding of a complicated man who was irritable opinionated vengeful and an extraordinary genius.
language: English
title: Dante: The Poet, the Political Thinker, the Man
publisher: Counterpoint