The Figure of Dante
The Figure of Dante: An Essay on The Vita Nuova
JEROME MAZZARO
Series: Princeton Essays in Literature
Copyright Date: 1981
Published by: Princeton University Press
Pages: 172
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7ztsqb
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The Figure of Dante
Book Description:

Jerome Mazzaro examines Dante's Vita Nuova as an artistic correlative to what Dante conceived as an image of himself. Specifically, he explores the structure of the work in relation to medieval views of memory, self, music, form, and interpretation, and against the facts of Dante's life and culture as we have come to know them.

Originally published in 1981.

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eISBN: 978-1-4008-5608-4
Subjects: Language & Literature
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. vii-viii)
  3. PREFACE
    PREFACE (pp. ix-2)
    Jerome Mazzaro
  4. CHAPTER ONE THE VITA NUOVA AND THE ʺNEWʺ POET
    CHAPTER ONE THE VITA NUOVA AND THE ʺNEWʺ POET (pp. 3-26)

    In the Supplement to Part III of theSumma Theologica, Thomas Aquinas takes up the question of whether ʺafter the resurrection everyone will not be able to know all the sins he has committedʺ (Q87). The problem is reconciling the image of a ʺbook of conscienceʺ wherein sins would bear witness to the moral character of the individual (Romans 2:15) and somehow ʺsorrow and mourningʺ would ʺflee awayʺ (Revelation 21:4). Thomas cites the description of the ʺbook of lifeʺ and the deadʹs being ʺjudged by those things which were written in the book according to their worksʺ (Revelation 20:12), and...

  5. CHAPTER TWO THE VITA NUOVA AND THE LITERATURE OF SELF
    CHAPTER TWO THE VITA NUOVA AND THE LITERATURE OF SELF (pp. 27-50)

    The opening tractate of DanteʹsConviviogives two ʺspecially conspicuousʺ reasons for an individualʹs being allowed to speak of himself: ʺwhen, without discoursing about oneself, great disgrace and danger cannot be avoidedʺ and ʺwhen, from speaking about oneself, great advantage to others follows in the way of teachingʺ (I.ii.95-101). Dante cites as an instance of the first type BoethiusʹConsolation of Philosophyand of the second, AugustineʹsConfessions. The instances provide not only models of self-definition but excellent illustrations as well of the ʺtragicʺ and ʺcomicʺ modes by which life may be viewed. Boethiusʹ palliating ʺthe last disgrace of his...

  6. CHAPTER THREE THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE VITA NUOVA
    CHAPTER THREE THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE VITA NUOVA (pp. 51-70)

    Despite Michele Barbiʹs assertion that the divisions of theVita Nuovaare to show that Dante ʺis not one of those ʹcoarseʹ versifiers who botch up poems,ʺ readers have been bothered by their presence in the book. The divisions were deleted from theeditio princeps(1576) and, in the nineteenth century, Dante Gabriele Rossetti was so outraged by them that he left the translation of the ʺdivisioniʺ to his brother. Since the work of Pio Rajna, it has been common to associate the divisions with Scholasticism and to use their presence as an argument for the prose of the book...

  7. CHAPTER FOUR THE PROSE OF THE VITA NUOVA
    CHAPTER FOUR THE PROSE OF THE VITA NUOVA (pp. 71-94)

    The overwhelming response to theVita Nuovais to the love story—both as an example of certain attitudes toward love and as an account of a young manʹs feelings for a woman. Yet, despite the various claims that Dante makes in these areas, readers are not able to agree as to what exactly his attitudes are or the necessity for a real woman to support his reformation. Thus, despite Danteʹs having moved the Italian love poem beyond the sensuality of the Provengal lyric and added as part of its excellence the moral reformation of the poet, the emphases to...

  8. CHAPTER FIVE THE ʺDANTEʺ OF THE VITA NUOVA
    CHAPTER FIVE THE ʺDANTEʺ OF THE VITA NUOVA (pp. 95-116)

    The figure of Dante that emerges from theVita Nuovais by the poetʹs own admission partial in that it is limited to those poems and events that ʺrelate to the theme of the most gracious lady Beatriceʺ (V). Yet readers are not aware of the extent of the partiality until they begin to see the Dante of theVita Nuovaagainst other of his youthful poems and activities and comments on his youth as well as against the particular devices of figuration and characterization that Dante uses for the work. Compared to the ʺDantesʺ of theConvivioand the...

  9. CHAPTER SIX THE VITA NUOVA AND SUBSEQUENT POETIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY
    CHAPTER SIX THE VITA NUOVA AND SUBSEQUENT POETIC AUTOBIOGRAPHY (pp. 117-138)

    Readers of theVita Nuovaare immediately struck by the presence of Beatrice. She appears first in Chapter II, already ʺin glory,ʺ as having been the source of the poetʹs sexual and moral awakening, and by the end of Chapter V, readers are informed that they will receive no material unless it relates ʺto the theme of that most gracious lady.ʺ The romantic screens, the suffering, the changes in Danteʹs character center on her, whose Christlike perfection is apparent at her birth when ʺall nine of the moving heavens were in perfect conjunction one with the other.ʺ Indeed, she is...

  10. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    BIBLIOGRAPHY (pp. 139-146)
  11. INDEX
    INDEX (pp. 147-150)
  12. Back Matter
    Back Matter (pp. 151-153)
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