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Dante's Divine Autofiction

How the Italian poet’s search for self-knowledge changed the course of literature.

Dante’s Commedia(or Divine Comedy, written in the opening decades of the 14th century) is already a heavily and explicitly political text, in which the poet at times exhibits a positively Trumpian relish in imagining the defeat and torment of his enemies. The poet is learning as he travels, thanks first to Virgil, then to the radiant figure of Beatrice, the young girl Dante knew in childhood who remained for him an image of clarity and integrity, and who meets him in Purgatory to conduct him to Heaven. But the depth and diversity of cultural reactions treated here, including film and fiction as well as more conventional studies, make it a welcome introduction to the vast literature inspired by a masterpiece that evokes like no other the overwhelming creativity of an eternal peace that shapes faith and compels longing.

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