Dante in Love: A Biography

by A.N. Wilson

For William Butler Yeats, Dante Alighieri was "the chief imagination of Christendom." For T. S. Eliot, he was of supreme importance, both as poet and philosopher. Coleridge championed his introduction to an English readership. Tennyson based his poem "Ulysses" on lines from the Inferno. Byron chastised an "Ungrateful Florence" for exiling Dante. The Divine Comedy resonates across five hundred years of our literary canon.

In Dante in Love, A. N. Wilson presents a glittering study of an artist and his world, arguing that without an understanding of medieval Florence, it is impossible to grasp the meaning of Dante's great poem. He explains how the Italian states were at that time locked into violent feuds, mirrored in the ferocious competition between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy. He shows how Dante's preoccupations with classical mythology, numerology, and the great Christian philosophers inform every line of the Comedy.

Dante in Love also explores the enigma of the man who never wrote about the mother of his children, yet immortalized the mysterious Beatrice whom he barely knew. With a biographer's eye for detail and a novelist's comprehension of the creative process, A. N. Wilson paints a masterful portrait of Dante Alighieri and unlocks one of the seminal works of literature for a new generation of readers.

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Italy, Italian Literature, Literature, Medieval History

400 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2011

About the author

Andrew Norman Wilson is an English writer and newspaper columnist, known for his critical biographies, novels, works of popular history and religious views. He is an occasional columnist for the Daily Mail and former columnist for the London Evening Standard, and has been an occasional contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman, The Spectator and The Observer.

Reviews

[Mary Harju · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that can open a world for you. I definitely will re-read The Divine Comedy with greater pleasure in the near future. Wilson not only reveals Dante's humanity but also explains the greater meanings of his poetry (yes, even the Paradiso) in a way that is personal and exciting, even sexy at times. I do have a bit of background knowledge of period, but I think it was written to be understandable to the Dante "lay person". Wilson is a highly accomplished scholar and he writes about Dante and his poetry with such passion that it is a hard book to put down.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilson’s exploration of Dante’s life is less a biography of the man, there are scant details about the poet’s life anywhere in the book that could not have been picked up elsewhere—as biography no new ground is broken here, but is more a biography of the Commedia and its relationship to the European literary tradition.

This isn’t to say A. N. Wilson’s Dante in Love is not worth the reading. In many cases it is a useful introduction to the man, the poem, and their relevance to the literary tradition of Europe and the West.

Occasionally the biography can be opinionated and idiosyncratic but these parts are short and easily skated over. What the reader is left with is an engaging intellectual biography and cogent bit of literary criticism.

Dante in Love is a very personal journey through the poet’s intellectual life and less so that of his personal life, but in the end the book is well worth the effort.

Recommended for those looking for an accessible and intelligent introduction to the Commedia and the life of Dante Alighieri.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

[Ashley Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

A.N. Wilson is not a scholar. He is a self-taught Dante enthusiast, whose work emphasizes the historical context of Dante's Commedia. Unfortunately, it does little to illuminate things within the text. Heavy on the history, superfluous vocabulary, and run-on sentences, Wilson tries to make a name for himself among Dantean scholars by berating the work of those who came before him. There are better works on Dante available, a shame they are not in my library.

[سقراط جاسم · Rating 3 out of 5]

#سقراطيات
.
عن دار المدى رواية (دانتي في حب) للكاتب جوزيبه كونته وترجمة نبيل رضا المهايني .. الرواية تأخذنا في رحلة لليلة واحدة مع دانتي حيث ينزل من الفردوس ليتجول في فلورنسا، يشاهد مشهد النساء المارة.
.
في الليلة الثامنة عشرة، أعطته طالبة أجنبية شابة تدعى غريس لأول مرة انطباعاً بأنها تشعر بوجودها. لذلك كان يتبعها في سلسلة مبهجة من اللقاءات ويخبرها، كما لو كان يسمعها، عن حبه لبياتريس وتجربته السرية كمؤمن للحب. ثم دعاها للذهاب في رحلة حب معاً على متن السفينة السحرية التي أرسلها الساحر ميرلين.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddly, I'd say that love is the weakest part of this biography of Dante--Wilson does much better with descriptions of Florence and Rome, explanations of political rivalries, discussions of popular language as opposed to Latin, and much religious symbolism in Dante's work. But he seems very weak on love. He seems to misunderstand "courtly love"; he seems to think Jean de Meun (the writer of the last half of the Roman de la Rose) was gay; he thinks Purgatorio 26 is about homosexual lust, when it is actually about both homo- and heterosexual lust, penitents of each variety walking in opposite directions around the terrace, greeting each other with brief, friendly kisses as they pass (what an astonishing image for the 14th century!); he completely invents a crucial and devastating episode in Dante's life, a desperate love affair with a real woman--the donna gentile--pretty much solely from a single poem he considers to be autobiographical. Whew. But those complaints aside, there's a lot here that I didn't know. Florence in 1300 was four or five times larger in population than Rome--second in size only to Paris in medieval Europe. A traveler approaching Florence would have viewed something like the skyscrapers of a modern city--around 150 towers scattered around the city, built by murderous mafiosi-like families to protect themselves not from invaders, but from their fellow citizens. I was also fascinated by Wilson's description of language and the difference between high-falutin' Latin and the more popular speech descended from it, which would probably have been mutually intelligible from Gibraltar to Marseilles to Naples. Wilson also seems to be very good on visual art, with interesting discussions of Giotto. And there are many color plates. It was frustrating that there was almost no cross-over between the plates and the images he discusses. There's a lot here, but for a reliable biography of Dante which helps to understand the Divine Comedy, I'd go with Peter Hawkins's Dante: A Brief History.

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321) was the greatest European poet of the Middle Ages. Born in Florence, Italy, he enthusiastically dived into all streams of social life. But, Italy of the thirteenth century was a very volatile place in whose numerous city states the Pope and the Holy Roman emperor was locked in a deadly fight for political power. Popes in that era stand no comparison to its present occupant – the benevolent, sage-like Francis I. They plotted intrigues, fought wars, sired children, had open liaisons with women and differed very little from a secular monarch. Dante had the misfortune of falling out with both the parties and had to flee his hometown of Florence to evade the wrath of the jubilant group. He could never go back. For a long twenty-one years, he wandered through the full length of Italy, keeping the fire inside raging with determination and poetic creativity. He found patrons everywhere, as he had had been already acknowledged as the greatest living poet of Italy. In the time of exile, Dante set upon himself the task of writing his magnum opus, the Divine Comedy, which is one of the most magnificent literary treasures of all humanity. It was written in Italian, which marked its definite divergence from Latin on its pursuit as a full blown literary language. The Divine Comedy is a poem for experts with its frequent and oblique references to classical literature and mythology, ecclesiastics, and contemporary monarchs. It is no easy task for modern readers just to comprehend the text, let alone appreciating it. A N Wilson makes a wonderful job here, going through the life and times of Dante, pausing for clarifying all nuances the reader might find difficult in that epic. Describing about Dante’s life, his political and literary activities and the intellectual environment of Europe as a whole, Wilson provides us with a pedestal that helps to peer over the high wall of Comedy’s references to an era with which we are not at all familiar with. Andrew Norman Wilson is an English writer and newspaper columnist known for his critical biographies, novels and works of popular history. His scholarship on Dante comes through pure and simple in this book.

Appreciating Dante needed familiarity with classical mythology, Roman history and contemporary Italian politics, which this book graciously provides. These tough requirements kept Dante one of the great unreads. This book takes us on a journey to the Middle Ages when Florence was at the centre of exciting poetic flowering. Vernacular literature was in its youth, but a circle of very young men were producing lyrics of crystalline beauty. As Wilson rightfully claims, the experience of reading Dante is one of the most nourishing, puzzling and endlessly exciting of which a literate person is capable of. Dante’s contribution to the development of the Italian language is equally impressive. Thirty per cent of all Italian words are of Dantean coinage so that we can safely presume that he invented the language. When nationalism was surging through Italy in the nineteenth century, the patriots put Dante on the highest altar of nationalist pride. The Italian tri-colour is borrowed from the shades of marble leading up to purgatory in Dante’s poem. Scholars discern a faint but resolute streak of the awareness of nationality in his texts. His broader outlook might perhaps be the result of exile because had he stayed back, his inseparable attachment even to minute facets of Florentine life might have hindered the development of a national outlook.

The modern conception of the hell as a fiery place where sinners are subjected to all imaginable kinds of tortures through the medium of heat is indebted to Dante who depicted just such a place in the Divine Comedy. This poem is divided into three parts – the inferno, purgatory and paradise. It narrates the imaginary experience of Dante as he visits all three places in turn along with the company of ancient Roman poet Virgil, Dante’s old love Beatrice and Saint Bernard. What is strange is the poet’s placement of his old patrons and most of his associates either in the inferno (hell) or in purgatory. There is no redemption for those who end up in hell as denoted in the inscription on its entrance – “Abandon hope all ye who enter here”. The good souls are sent to paradise. Dante’s inspiration for hell comes from watching the large throngs of people who flocked to Rome on Easter day in 1300. As part of the jubilee year called by Pope Boniface VIII, the believers were promised absolution from their sins by donating liberally to the church. The priests were literally raking in money and this disgusted Dante so much that he went on to put people who sell office and indulging in corruption to hell in his classic poem. He was also influenced by Giotto de Bondonne’s paintings at Padua where the models were all people he knew personally.

The concept of purgatory is an idea used freely by Dante. This was a very recent development in Christian theology, defined only in 1254 by Pope Innocent IV. This was a place where most of the ‘light-sinned’ people underwent purification by ordeals. They could enter paradise after their sins are expiated. This proved to be a revenue-earner for the church which enabled them to sell indulgences for purification in the afterlife. This helped most of the ordinary people to aspire for paradise. Dante placed much hope in universal love that pervades the whole world. He believed that divine love encompassed all things, that it was the force which moved the sun and other stars. He ends the Comedy with the lines,

“Here powers failed my high imagination:
But by now my desire and will were turned,
Like a balanced wheel rotated evenly,
By the love that moves the sun and other stars”

which is a description of the poet’s encounter with God himself, at which words fail him. This fact lies at the bottom of the book’s title, even though its cover portrays a young man ogling at a group of damsels on a riverside walkway.

This book helps the readers to appreciate the intellectually bewildering imagery of the Divine Comedy. Naturally, it is freely peppered with verses from the epic. Wilson’s mastery of Dante and over the numerous translations of it into English is expressed through the detailed comparisons he makes between them especially on the description of Beatrice. The quotes from the Comedy also cycles through prominent translations. The author has done a splendid job in arousing readers’ interest to plunge into the medieval world by reading through the Comedy. A number of illustrations and paintings are included in the book which portrays the moments in the poet’s life as well as moments in the poem. These are unappealing and don’t add much value to the narrative.

The book is highly recommended.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was quite young, under ten I'm sure, when I first met Dante. It was in my mother's copy of The Divine Comedy with engravings by Durer. Those illustrations obviously made a strong impression, because I've been enchanted ever since ... enchanted but never passed the first several cantos. Wilson's thorough and thoroughly readable examination of Dante, his world, and his Comedy have provided what could prove to be the impetus I need to at last read my mom's book.

[Raymond Nassif · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.”

From its famous opening line, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy can leave readers confused and defeated.
What exactly is the midway of life? Is it 20 years, 50 years? Is there some allegorical meaning to it.
Thankfully A.N. Wilson’s Dante in Love, sets about explaining this work in a way the lay-reader can understand.

In the Middle-Ages it was believed that the average lifespan of a good person was 70 years. Therefore ‘midway upon the journey of life’ is 35 years.
See we’re learning already!

The premise of the Epic Poem is simple and well known. Dante is lead on a journey through the afterlife. First to Hell, then Purgatory, then Heaven.
Yet the contents of the poems and the many personalities that encompass it are foreign to most modern readers.

Wilson takes the reader on a beautifully constructed history lesson about the political, cultural and economic strands of late 13th and early 14th century Florence and Europe. Here Florence was at its most powerful, and wealthy. Her currency, the Florin, was the most widely used in Europe.
Despite the vast wealth, Florence was not immune from deep factionalism, caused by the competing interests of France and the Holy Roman Empire in the region.
Politics was a dangerous and precarious occupation. Several coups and counter-coups lead to violence, death and the exile of the deposed factions.
Dante married into the powerful Donati family. He would enter into politics and rise to the upper levels, only to be forced into a permanent exile after a coup was orchestrated against his faction.
The Divine Comedy was written after his exile. An exile that would last from 1302 until his death in 1321. The anger he felt at his treatment is reflected in his poem. Those who betrayed him are often found in the lower levels of hell.

While not much is known of Dante’s life, his works are self-referential and Wilson makes informed deductions.
He explores the works and philosophies that Dante was influenced by. The other poets he worked with and read. Courtly love. The Cathars. His deep faith. Many of these are topics the mainstream reader may not be entirely familiar with. I certainly wasn’t familiar with the details of courtly love or how big a section of society the Cathars became before they were destroyed.
Interestingly, Dante never mentions his wife, Gemma, mother of his seven children, in all his works. Wilson believes this was done by design not accident. Considering another woman makes a significant appearance in the Divine Comedy, Wilson is probably correct.
Her name is Beatrice Portinari and Dante felt a passionate, almost Divine love her. He glimpsed her at the age of nine and became closely attached. They don’t appear to have spent much time in each other’s company and Beatrice would die aged 18, but her memory would remain with Dante. So much so that when Dante reaches heaven he is guided through it by Beatrice herself.

The Comedy is a hugely influential work. T.S. Eliot said that in the Western Canon there is Shakespeare, Dante and nobody else. Wilson, who has read and re-read and read about Dante, recommends reading the original and English translation alongside each other, so as to appreciate the complex rhyming scheme and beautiful, lyrical prose.
The Comedy was written in the Florentine dialect of Italian. It proved so influential that modern standard Italian came to be based on Dante’s Comedy. In fact, 90% of modern standard Italian vocabulary can be found in it.

Wilson makes the interesting point that Dante probably believed that he was writing in a dialect of Latin, not in a different language, but let’s not get into that debate now.
Dante is a towering figure in Western Literature. Wilson hopes we don’t lose him and his book went a long way to preparing me for the journey that begins with Virgil and ends by looking into the face of God.

[Quin Herron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The wonderfully paradoxical thing about the best poets is the way they are simultaneously recognizable through their considerable effect on modern culture, and yet often inaccessible due to their distance from it. Homer is rarely far away thanks to the Trojans, those valiant defenders. Shakespeare managed to poeticize a basic infinitive: "to be." But how many people try to open up the Iliad and find themselves lost in medias res with no description of what all of these people are doing and why they're so mad about their patriarchal women-trading getting upset? How many people go to a production of Hamlet and are immediately lost to the language and the plot because they spent too much time thinking about why everyone is talking about Norway?

So it is with Dante. His vision of hell has found its way deeper into the cultural consciousness than any other, but it seems most people forget or were never told that he wrote two other magnificent books in the same trilogy. An attempt to read him can be scuttled by the first syntactic idiosyncrasy or reference. A.N. Wilson's Dante in Love is an admirable effort to make this first reading go a little more smoothly. I wish more authors undertook similar endeavors. Wilson keeps the pace up with his conversational tone, helping us imagine the physical medieval world with his descriptions of Rome, Florence, and Verona. He truly gives you a sense of the atmosphere in which Dante was writing, and not just from a political or historical perspective. I will always have a clear image of attendants raking in cash at the Vatican thanks to him.

When he does give you those descriptions though, things still get a little hairy. A single map of Italy would have been nice. A diagram showing the relationships between popes, emperors, and other figures would have been orgasmic. There are so many names and events all running up against each other it's hard to take a step back and look at the whole picture of what he's talking about. There are some fantastic illustrations distributed throughout the book, but they don't really interact with the text very much.

I took issue with two other things. Wilson can quite the speculator, using anecdotal evidence and creating unnecessary (though always minor) conclusions about what was going on with Dante. I realize that this gives a much more personal picture of the enigmatic, distant poet, but it all feels cheap to me. I would rather be presented with a mystery and come up with my own viewpoint than be given one to fill in gaps others would find unpleasant. The other thing which bothered me throughout was the way Wilson will include translated or untranslated Italian with no sign of underlying logic. It didn't bother me all that much, but my heart went out to those who haven't yet studied a Romance language and weren't able to piece together a ramshackle translation. Each time I came across an Italian phrase I thought to myself "oh, will he translate this one?" and sometimes he did and sometimes he didn't. Footnotes would have come in handy.

Of course I love Dante and I am grateful to Wilson for putting together this book. Up until now I had to work backwards from the notes in the Comedy to get the full story. It was so refreshing to find an independent narrative. I look forward to my next reading of the Comedy, when I will (hopefully) smoothly read only the text without stopping to turn to the notes saying "now what the hell is he talking about?"

[Rod · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and rewarding read. The politics and the social/religious context left me more than a bit confused sometimes, but I was glad that Wilson didn't dig too deeply into that, as I fear it would not have interested me anyway. What he provided was enough for me to feel like I may return to Paradiso with a little more understanding of context. One of the more surprising revelations in the book for me wasn't about Dante, but rather about the author. I knew Wilson as an atheist (having read his biographies of Jesus and Paul and dipping into God's Funeral: The Decline of Faith in Western Civilization), so was surprised to run across the line: "When, years later, I came back to the Church..."

[M Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a man who wrote so much about himself, what we know about Dante Aligheri is surprisingly little. He used his life as raw material not so much for straight-forward autobiography but for allegory and mystical poetry. A.N. Wilson, one of our finest biographers, manages to explore the facts and suppositions of Dante's life in a volume that opens up the history of medieval Italy, its politics, religion, and wars. For all those who've struggled with arcane allusions in the Divine Comedy, this book is an invaluable companion. For those with an interest in the history of Europe and particularly in church history and in the history of theology, this book will be a delight.

[msleighm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really want to get a copy of the translation everyone used in the 19th century, Carey's Dante, I think. I finished this last month and passed it on to mom, but I guess I forgot to mark it read. A lot of interesting and useful information, but not laid out in a manner I found appealing.

3.5 stars, rounding down because I felt like I was slogging through it.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

AN Wilson uses the story of Dante's life to interpret his Divine Comedy. Interesting and accessible, this book gives a good introduction to the political, historical and philosophical context of the time.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly readable, contextualizing Dante's "Comedy". Even if you never read Dante, you will come away with an overview of Europe during the decades before and after 1300, the pivotal year that Dante chooses to set his great work, the year he turned 35 and finds himself in that dark wood.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, did my opinion of that swing wide. As reads go, it bogged down pretty badly at several points. But, I did learn quite a bit about Dante's exile, travel route, reception, and some of the people he influenced.

[Edie Light · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tough read, especially when I think really only about 3-4 real points were made. The author went down a lot of rabbit holes. I also think you needed a flow chart to understand all of the relationships, but I did pick up a lot of very interesting information about Dante.

[Darlene Asselin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whooof. A tough read. Scholarly background on Dante and his times. I got it from a local Little Library and read it in preparation for reading Inferno with my daughter. Can’t say I enjoyed it but it was helpful

[Tim Nason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️ Rich in detail but presented in convoluted prose requiring multiple readings of each sentence. Excellent notes and bibliography. Read the R.W.B. Lewis biography instead alongside any two translations of the Commedia.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fluctuating 3 and 4. I am reading "Purgatory" (Esolen translation) at the moment, so this was a great companion.

[Flob · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book. A surprisingly easy read for such a complex topic. It has been many years since I read the Comedy but I shall certainly go back and read it again.

[Jackson Cyril · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting for those unacquainted with Dante, but much of the information should be old news to Dante students.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent historical and literary summary. Somewhat repetitive and poorly edited it still provides a bounty of contextual information and critical analysis

[General Kutuzov · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Wilson quite a bit, but this was a disorganized mess.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um 👾

[Steve Greenleaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Along with Shakespeare, Dante is the greatest literary figure in the Western tradition. In an awards contest, I'd give Dante the award for the greatest single work, while Shakespeare would receive the award for the greatest lifetime body of work. Such conjectures and contests are always a bit of a silly exercise. Both are great. But Dante, even more than Shakespeare, is daunting. Shakespeare wrote at the end of the Northern Renaissance and therefore helps lay the very foundations of our modernity. Dante wrote at the apex of the Middle Ages, when Pope Boniface VIII faced off with Phillip the Fair, king of France, over the competing claims of Church and State in the medieval world. (My thanks to the late Professor Ralph Giesey and to TA Nancy Neefie for introducing me to medieval history in my first weeks as a freshman in my Western Civ class.)

Dante, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the great Gothic cathedrals loom as the great cultural icons of the Middle Ages. However, despite some interest in the Middle Ages, and a pretty good introduction to the high points of the Western tradition, I didn't approach Dante until my mid-30s, when I decided that this was a seminal work that I should engage. I thought—rightly so—that it requires a degree of maturity to appreciate. (I hope that for me, however, that it did not mark midway on my life’s journey!) Reading Dante is not easy. References to contemporary Italian politics, as well as Classical and Biblical figures, abound. The work is one of poetry, so we have the rich metaphors and other figures of speech that challenge those of us who live in our prosaic world. I don't recall what translation I read, but the experience proved worthwhile. I've been reading Dante and his commentators ever since. I now can add A.N. Wilson's Dante in Love to the list of fellow Dante readers—nay, enthusiasts—who have found the effort of the Commedia intriguing and enlightening.

Wilson emphasizes that he is not a Dante scholar, but he's been reading and appreciating Dante since his late teens, and so he's a fellow enthusiast who also happens to be an experienced and talented writer of biography, history, and fiction. Wilson writes that he intends his book to serve as an introduction and appreciation of Dante’s life and works in all their complexity. He intends to provide a guide for others like him who aren’t scholars, but interested readers. He succeeds in his intention. This book is the best single volume appreciation of Dante and his masterwork (and some of his lesser works) that I've encountered. His title references his central premise: Dante is the poet and philosopher of love in all its manifestations.

Love is the central trope of Dante’s work. Love, for Dante, can be quite worldly, following the cultural lead of the troubadours, or quite ethereal, as we see with Beatrice, the idealized neighbor from his youth. Or it can be the Lady in the Window, the personification of philosophy. (Wilson speculates that perhaps Dante’s wife Gemma, whom Dante never names in his work, is the Lady in the Window.) However, in addition to his love poetry, Dante is a political actor, and it’s his political connections that lead to his exile from Florence. The treachery and confusion of Italian politics didn’t begin with the fellow Florentine Machiavelli and the Renaissance; the turmoil was rampant in Dante’s time, with Popes, Emperors, and city-states vying for political supremacy. Thus, to understand Dante, one must attempt grasp both human and divine love as well as Italian politics. It can seem daunting, but Wilson’s book helps answer the challenge.

We can—and perhaps should—spend a lifetime reading and studying Dante. We could do much worse with our time. But whether you’re making a passing acquaintance or you decide to dive in headfirst, Wilson can serve as a personal Virgil to help you along the way. Indeed, as Wilson is quick to point out, there are many such guides, but his may have the widest scope and easiest access of any that I’ve encountered.

Pick up Dante, read, and remember that you’re trying to understand “the Love that moves the sun and other stars”.

[Mauberley]

It has been over thirty years since I first read the Penguin translation by Dorothy Sayers and Barbara Reynolds. It was a fine introduction but while I benefited tremendously from all of the notes and commentary, the critical apparatus ultimately swallowed Dante's poem and left me with the sense that it was a poem that could only be enjoyed by experts. It wasn't until many years later that I realized how wrong I was. If only I had read A.N. Wilson's book after that first encounter! He provides solid background on Florentine politics and culture as well as an engaging biographical exploration of the poet's life and circumstances. (His friendship with Cavalcanti, for example, is very well done.) For a book entitled 'Dante in Love', there is really not as much about Beatrice as I would have expected but Wilson hints in the opening pages that Charles Williams had pretty much got that covered. I have enjoyed several of Wilson's novels (e.g., Scandal) and loathed others (e.g., The Vicar of Sorrows) but 'The Victorians' was a pleasure from start to finish. Wilson's curiosity leads his reader to wonderful places.

[Greg Guma · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than a biography, this sprawling examination of Dante’s life, writing and times revisits his doomed political career, radical philosophy, religious and sexual obsessions, and crucial role in creating the Italian identity. It also suggests that, especially in The Divine Comedy, he may have anticipated the cultural schisms, disillusionment and democratic threats currently on display. As Wilson explains, “The old political systems, like the old religions, assumed that we all spoke the same language about our shared inner life. That is no longer the case....Human beings were never in history so alone as they are today, never less certain that they possessed anything in common. Dante, poet of dislocation and exile, poet of a new language, has immediate things to say to us which he has not perhaps said in history before.”

[Jackdaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally engrossed by this fascinating book. I knew very little about Dante and his world when I started on it. Now I know enough to realise that I have to read The Divine Comedy. Thanks to Mr Wilson I'm now well into The Inferno (so to speak) and woildn't have missed the experience for anything.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. It provides great background on Dante. Definitely worth reading.m

[Brenda Clough]

The Dante biography for our age. Wilson strives mightily to make Dante relevant to our post-9/11 age. Not sure he succeeds, but it's an eminently readable literary biography.