Dante and His Literary Precursors

This volume explores connections between Dante and literary contexts of periods earlier than his own, from the pre-Christian era to the thirteenth century. Essays include Pamela Williams (U. Hull), "Cato of Utica in Cicero's De Finibus and Dante's Commedia"; Teresa Hankey (U. Kent), "Dante and Statius"; Jean-Michel Picard (UCD), "Dante and Irish vision literature"; Drina Oldroyd (Griffith U.), "Dante and the medieval prophets"; John C. Barnes (UCD), "Dante's knowledge of Florentine history"; Claire Honess (U. Reading), "Dante and political poetry in the vernacular"; Stephen Bemrose (U. Exeter), "Dante's 'Neutral' Angels"; Lynne Press (QUB), "Modes of metamorphosis in the Commedia: Inferno XIII"; June Salmons (U. Wales, Swansea), "Tradition and innovation in Purgatori"; Prue Shaw (University College, London), "A reading of Purgatorio XXVI"; and Joanna Sciortino Nowlan (King's College, London), "Dante and the mystical tradition."