Written by ten distinguished Dante scholars, the essays in Dante Now
represent the most significant areas of contemporary Dante studies. This
collection, originating from a 1993 University of Notre Dame conference,
includes some of the particular on three intensely cultivated areas of
Dante studies: poetics, "minor works,"and reception.
The stimulating ferment on the problem of Dante's poetics is well
represented in the first three essays. These range in approach from the
stylistic-ideological treatment of Zygmunt G. Baranski's essay to the
inter-and intra-textual concerns presented by Christopher Kleinhenz, to
the compelling hermeneutical and epistemological reflections on Dante's
poetics given by Giuseppe Mazzotta. Dante's so-called "minor works" have
increasingly become a focus of attention in contemporary Dante studies,
and the textual problems represented by the Vita nuova are sweepingly
reconsidered by Dino S. Cervigni and Edward Vasta. Ronald L. Martinez
dedicates a substantial essay to Dante's poem of exile "Tre donne," and
Albert Russell Ascoli addresses the issue of the relationship between
Dante's Commedia and the minor works, especially the Monarchia. The
final section of essays examines the phenomenon of the original and
continuing vitality of Dante's work as a profoundly of influential,
enduring, and enlivening literary classic. R.A. Shoaf addresses the
literary influence of Dante in medieval England; Kevin Brownlee
investigates Dante's most important medieval French connection in the
works of Christine de Pizan; and Nancy Vickers illuminates Dante's
translatability into avante garde films and videos. Finally, Brian
Richardson considers the Commedia's Fortunes during the Renaissance in
terms of its remarkable editorial and publishing history.