DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Dantologies

Theoretical and Theological Turns in Dante Studies

William Franke author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:26th Sep '23

£150.00

Supplier delay - available to order, but may take longer than usual.

Dantologies cover

This book comprises a searching philosophical meditation on the evolution of the humanities in recent decades, taking Dante studies as an exemplary specimen. The contemporary currents of theory have decisively impacted this field, but Dante also has a strong relationship with theology. The idea that theology, teleology, and logocentric rationalities are simply overcome and swept away by new theoretical approaches proves much more complex as the theory revolution is exposed in its crypto-theological motives and origins. The revolutionary agendas and methodologies of theoretical currents have ushered in all manner of minorities and postcolonial and gender studies. But the exciting adventure they inaugurate shows up in quite a surprising light when brought to focus through the scholarly discipline of Dante studies as a terrain of dispute between traditional philology and postmodern theory. On this terrain, negative theology can play a peculiarly destabilizing, but also a conciliatory, role: it is equally critical of all languages for a theological transcendence to which it nevertheless remains infinitely open.

“The book is certainly on the leading edge when it considers the purpose and relevance of the humanities in our time – a very “cutting-edge” question for humanities scholars. In terms of Dante studies specifically, the book provides original insights into the Paradiso, perhaps the least studied of the Commedia’s three canticles. The scholarship is first-rate. Franke, as a major Dante scholar, is steeped in all the research and publications on Dante. He has an easy familiarity with most of what has been written about Dante, going back even throughout the twentieth century.”

-Glenn A. Steinberg, Professor, The College of New Jersy, USA

“I found this book to be thought-provoking, and at several points mind-changing. an original perspective, and certainly on the "leading edge" of its field. Franke writes with pellucid clarity; even when he is handling complex issues in literary theory and theology, his argument is easy to follow.“

-John Fyler, Professor, Tufts University, USA

ISBN: 9781032526553

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

274 pages