Dante the maker

by William Anderson

Dante the Maker

Genres: Biography

1 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 1983

About the author

William Anderson was a British poet, critic, and scholar of medieval and religious symbolism whose work ranged confidently across literature, art, science, and philosophy. Fluent in several European languages and at home in Italy, France, and Germany as well as in his native Britain, he brought a distinctively European breadth of culture to his writing on Dante and the Middle Ages. His major works include Dante the Maker (1980), a PEN 'Silver Pen Award' winning intellectual and spiritual biography of Dante Alighieri, Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth (1990), and The Face of Glory (1996), alongside translations of Dante's Vita Nuova among others. Throughout his career he explored how imagination shapes civilisation, reading figures like Dante and the Green Man as symbols of humanity’s creative and spiritual vocation.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This is William^^^^Anderson.

Reviews

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is actually a very good attempt to analyse and explain the work of Dante. William Anderson tries to place everything within the context of Dante's worldview; philosophy, politics and religion. He points out some of the connections that appear to exist between Dante's ideas and Templar iconography, and through that connection how Sufi attitudes seem to integrate with other contemporary philosophical innovations. He especially points out how Dante appears to be the first to take Greek mythology and integrate it with Christian imagery and looks at Dante's wide use of metaphore and symbolism throughout his oeuvre. For any serious student of Dante, this is one of the books they should read.
So why not a five-star rating? I feel there are parts of the book which are spoilt by Anderson's attempts to look at, and explain, creativity. he constantly refers to Dante's creativity through "dream" and his image of himself as a prophet (in the old Biblical sense of the word); I found this reference a little fantastical, especially because there is no real foundation to it.

[Hilary McElwaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt the most informative and complete accompaniment to the works of Dante. This book gives us fascinating insights into the man, his time and his art and gives us a much fuller appreciation of this world class author. This book will always be by my side.