Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Dante and Violence directly engages with important recent studies and the related domains of medieval legal, political, and religious thought. Close reading of passages from Dante and cross-references to episodes or figures from his work help to demonstrate how and why the explanations of contemporary medieval thought inform the analysis of the poema sacro.” —Catherine Keen, author of Dante and the City
"Schildgen has written a groundbreaking study of Dante and violence. Dante and Violence will be of value to all those interested in a great thinker’s views on a paramount and enduring topic—one whose relevance, moreover, never diminishes." —Teodolinda Barolini, editor of Dante's Lyric Poetry
"Schildgen takes on a seemingly obvious aspect of Dante’s Commedia, acknowledging the many ways his subject requires grisly treatments. But rather than simply offering another account of violent punishment in the poem, she examines how 'the Commedia represents interpersonal, collective, and cosmic violence or coercion in three spheres of the poet’s historic world.'" —Choice
"Nothing but the highest commendation for the author’s in-depth analysis of the chosen case studies, her erudite use of sources, and her conclusions, particularly with regard to justified and unjustified war." —Symposium
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Violence in the Commedia
1. Freedom, Natural Law, and Love
2. Violence in the Domestic Sphere in the Commedia
3. Killing Fields and the Cross in the Heavens
4. Redemptive Violence: The Cross, Sacrifice, and the “Giusta Vendetta”
Conclusion: Violence, Poetry, and History
