La Vita Nuova (Dover Thrift Editions: Poetry) - Softcover

Dante

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486419150 ISBN 13: 9780486419152

Publisher: Dover Publications, 2001

Synopsis

In this celebration of a poet's passionate love for the woman he worshiped from afar, Dante weaves together rapturous sonnets and canzoni with prose commentaries and an autobiographical narrative. La Vita Nuova records the poet's adoration of Beatrice, the celestial figure who would ultimately guide him through his masterpiece, The Divine Comedy.
In addition to its appeal as a sublime meditation on the anguish and ecstasy of love, this volume also serves as a treatise on the art and technique of poetry. Dante's commentaries explicate each poem, further refining his concept of romantic love as the initial step in the spiritual development that culminates in the capacity for divine love. His unconventional approach — drawing upon personal experience, addressing readers directly, and writing in Italian rather than Latin — marked a turning point in European poetry, when writers departed from highly stylized forms in favor of a simpler style. This complete and unabridged edition features the distinguished translation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

About this title

About the Author:

Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence to a family of minor nobility. He entered into Florentine politics in 1295, but he and his party were forced into exile in a hostile political climate in 1301. Taking asylum in Ravenna late in life, Dante completed his Divine Commedia, considered one of the most important works of Western literature, before his death in 1321.

Language Notes:

Text: Swedish (translation)
Original Language: Italian

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0486419150
• ISBN 13: 9780486419152
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64