Short description:

First published in 1980, Dante the Maker examines the great Italian poet?s creative processes and presents a wider perspective on Dante.

Long description:

First published in 1980, Dante the Maker examines the great Italian poet?s creative processes and presents a wider perspective on Dante. Divided into three major parts, it discusses themes like the making of a poet; power exile and the works of Dante?s middle years; and the making of the Commedia. The book allows Anderson to explore the relevant political backgrounds, historical context, aesthetic, philosophical and even scientific currents- and the events of Dante?s own life - and finally to give his own judgement on how these diverse forces impinged on the poet?s creative processes. This literary biography is a must read for scholars and researchers of Literature.

?In Dante the Maker, Anderson attempts not one but three monumental tasks: a literary biography of one of the most elusive and mysterious figures in Western literature, an intellectual history of a period of extraordinary complexity, and an exploration of the creative process that produced La Vita Nuova and the Commedia.?

-Russell, J Stephen.? Romance Philology; Berkeley Vol. 38, Iss. 4, (May 1, 1985): 552-555.

Table of Contents:

Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Central Man of All the World Part I: The Making of a Poet 2. Encounters on the Road to Montaperti: Florentine History to 1260 3. Heraldry, Prophecy, and the Individual Self 4. Dante's Family and the History of Florence in the Later Thirteenth Century 5. The Meeting with Beatrice 6. The Faithful Followers of Love 7. The Genealogy of Beatrice 8. Convergent Worlds: The Scientific and Symbolic Modes of Thought Available to Dante and His Contemporaries 9. La Vita Nuova and the Poetry of Praise Part II: Power, Exile, and the Works of Dante's Middle Years 10. The Taste of Power and the Salt of Exile 11. The Poet of Righteousness: Later Lyrics and De vulgari eloquentia 12. Invitation to the Banquet of Knowledge: II Convivio 13. The Descent of Henry of Luxemburg and the Writing of De Monarchia 14. The Last Years: Lucca, Verona and Raveena Part III: The Making of the Commedia 15. The Journey 16. Weight, Number and Measure in the Commedia 17. The Grace of Inspiration 18. The Six Guides and the Four Levels of Meaning 19. Change and Being: The Images of the Commedia 20. The Transformation of Man 21. The End of the Journey Appendix Abbreviations A Note on the Texts and Sources Notes Bibliography Index