Dante's Epic Journeys / David Thompson.

• Author: Thompson, David, 1938-
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (1 online resource (xi, 83 pages).)
• Notes: The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No derivatives 4.0 International License; Open access edition supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program.; Originally published as Johns Hopkins Press in 1974

This essay in comparative literature represents the first extended attempt to relate Dante's major allegorical mode to classical and medieval interpretations of epic poetry rather than to patristic biblical exegesis. It also is the first comprehensive explanation of Dante's enigmatic Ulysses. Thompson strives to shed new light not only on Dante's allegory - and thus upon the whole troubled question of exactly what an allegory was thought to be but also on the intricate relationship between poet and poem and between Dante's spiritual journeys and his written representation of those itineraries.

Table of Contents

Introduction -- Part one: Three Allegorical Journeys -- Dante's Twofold Itinerary -- Odysseus among the Allegorists -- Aeneas's Spiritual Itinerary -- Letter and Allegory -- Part two: Ulysses, Aeneas, Dante -- Ulysses and the Critics -- Ulysses in the Commedia -- Ulysses and Aeneas -- Ulysses and Dante -- Aeneas and Dante