This original volume proposes a novel way of reading Dante's Vita nova, exemplified in a rich diversity of scholarly approaches to the text. This groundbreaking volume represents the fruit of a two-year-long series of international seminars aimed at developing a fresh way of reading Dante's Vita nova. By analyzing each of its forty-two chapters individually, focus is concentrated on the Vita nova in its textual and historical context rather than on its relationship to the Divine Comedy. This decoupling has freed the contributors to draw attention to various important literary features of the text, including its rich and complex polysemy, as well as its structural fluidity. The volume likewise offers insights into Dante's social environment, his relationships with other poets, and Dante's evolving vision of his poetry's scope. Using a variety of critical methodologies and hermeneutical approaches, this volume offers scholars an opportunity to reread the Vita nova in a renewed context and from a diversity of literary, cultural, and ideological perspectives. Contributors: Zygmunt G. Baranski, Heather Webb, Claire E. Honess, Brian F. Richardson, Ruth Chester, Federica Pich, Matthew Treherne, Catherine Keen, Jennifer Rushworth, Daragh O'Connell, Sophie V. Fuller, Giulia Gaimari, Emily Kate Price, Manuele Gragnolati, Elena Lombardi, Francesca Southerden, Rebecca Bowen, Nicolo Crisafi, Lachlan Hughes, Franco Costantini, David Bowe, Tristan Kay, Filippo Gianferrari, Simon Gilson, Rebekah Locke, Luca Lombardo, Peter Dent, George Ferzoco, Paola Nasti, Marco Grimaldi, David G. Lummus, Helena Phillips-Robins, Aiste Kiltinaviciute, Alessia Carrai, Ryan Pepin, Valentina Mele, Katherine Powlesland, Federica Coluzzi, K. P. Clarke, Nicolo Maldina, Theodore J. Cachey Jr., Chiara Sbordoni, Lorenzo Dell'Oso, and Anne C. Leone.
Zygmunt G. Baranski is Serena Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, Emeritus R. L. Canala Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Notre Dame, and co-editor of Dante's "Other Works": Assessments and Interpretations (University of Notre Dame Press, 2022). Heather Webb is professor of medieval Italian literature and culture at the University of Cambridge and author of Dante, Artist of Gesture.
Preface: Dante's Vita nova: A Collaborative Reading, by Zygmunt G. Baranski and Heather Webb Vita nova I-IV [1-2.5]: Introduction, by Claire E. Honess Vita nova I [1.1], by Brian F. Richardson Vita nova II [1.2-10], by Ruth Chester Vita nova III [1.12-2.2], by Federica Pich Vita nova IV [2.3-5], by Matthew Treherne Vita nova V-XII [2.6-5]: Introduction, by Catherine Keen Vita nova V and VI [2.6-2.11], by Catherine Keen Vita nova VII [2.12-18], by Jennifer Rushworth Vita nova VIII [3], by Daragh O'Connell Vita nova IX [4], by Sophie V. Fuller Vita nova X and XI [5.1-7], by Giulia Gaimari Vita nova XII [5.8-24], by Emily Kate Price Vita nova XIII-XVIII [6-10.11]: Not Just a Passing Phase, by Manuele Gragnolati, Elena Lombardi, and Francesca Southerden Vita nova XIII [6], by Rebecca Bowen Vita nova XIV [7], by Nicolo Crisafi Vita nova XV [8], by Lachlan Hughes Vita nova XVI [9], by Franco Costantini Vita nova XVII-XVIII [10.1-11], by David Bowe Vita nova XIX-XXIV [10.12-15]: Introduction, by Tristan Kay Vita nova XIX [10.12-33], by Filippo Gianferrari Vita nova XX [11], by Simon Gilson Vita nova XXI [12], by Rebekah Locke Vita nova XXII [13], by Luca Lombardo Vita nova XXIII [14], by Peter Dent Vita nova XXIV [15], by George Ferzoco Vita nova XXV-XXVII [16-18]: Literature as Truth, by Paola Nasti Vita nova XXV [16], by Rebecca Bowen Vita nova XXVI [17], by Marco Grimaldi Vita nova XXVII [18], by David G. Lummus Vita nova XXVIII-XXXIV [19-23]: The Poetics of a New Affective Community, by Heather Webb Vita nova XXVIII [19.1-3], by Helena Phillips-Robins Vita nova XXIX [19.4-7], by Aiste Kiltinaviciute Vita nova XXX [19.8-10], by Alessia Carrai Vita nova XXXI [20], by Ryan Pepin Vita nova XXXII [21], by Valentina Mele Vita nova XXXIII [22], by Katherine Powlesland Vita nova XXXIV [23], by Katherine Powlesland Vita nova XXXV-XXXIX [24-28]: Introduction, by Simon Gilson Vita nova XXXV [24], by Federica Coluzzi Vita nova XXXVI-XXXVII [25-26], by K. P. Clarke Vita nova XXXVIII-XXXIX [27-28], by Nicolo Maldina Vita nova XL-XLII [29-31]: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by Theodore J. Cachey Jr Vita nova XL [29], by Chiara Sbordoni Vita nova XLI [30], by Lorenzo Dell'Oso Vita nova XLII [31], by Anne C. Leone Bibliography List of contributors Index
"The range of contributions is impressive and unprecedented: combined, they amount to what is probably the single most valuable resource for generating new interpretive perspectives on one of the most important works of European literature." -Vittorio Montemaggi, author of Reading Dante's "Commedia" as Theology
