The biblical Dante

314 Pages·2011·1.83 MB·English

by  V. Stanley III Benfell

THE BIBLICAL DANTE
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V. STANLEY BENFELL
The Biblical Dante
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
© University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2011
 Toronto Buff alo London
 www.utppublishing.com
ISBN 978-1-4426-4274-4
Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer paper with vegetable-based inks.
Toronto Italian Studies
________________________________________________________________
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Benfell, V. Stanley, 1962–
The biblical Dante / V. Stanley Benfell.
(Toronto Italian studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4426-4274-4
1. Dante Alighieri, 1265–1321 – Religion. 2. Dante Alighieri, 1265–1321 –
Criticism and interpretation. 3. Bible in literature. I. Title. II. Series:
Toronto Italian studies
PQ4419.B5B45 2011  851'.1  C2011-902655-4
________________________________________________________________
This book was published with the aid of a grant from the College of
Humanities at Brigham Young University.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the fi nancial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario
Arts Council.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the fi nancial support for its
publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book
Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
For Leslie
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
A Note on Texts xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 3
1 Dante’s Idea of the Bible 19
2 Biblical Truth in the Paradiso 51
3  The Bible in the Inferno: Misprision and Prophetic
Appropriation 79
4 Una nuova legge: The Beatitudes in the Purgatorio 107
5 Dante’s Apocalypse 143
Conclusion: Poet of the Biblical World 194
Notes 199
Works Cited 265
Citations of Dante’s Works 285
Biblical and Apocryphal Citations 289
Index 293
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Acknowledgments
This book has taken far too long to write. As early as 1995, I published
an article that formed the basis for chapter 3, but I soon le(cid:286) the topic of
Dante’s biblicism to pursue other scholarly projects. But I returned to it,
brought back by my interest in the literary qualities of biblical texts and
in the ways in which the Bible has served as a central infl uence through-
out Western literary history. Since that time, work has been slowed by
administrative assignments, especially by a term as department chair
and stints on three Study Abroad programs.
In the long course of fi nishing this book, I have incurred numerous
debts, both intellectual and personal. My greatest intellectual debt is
to Teodolinda Barolini. The project ultimately had its origins in a year-
long graduate course on Dante’s Commedia that I took from Professor
Barolini at New York University. Part of my work from that course even-
tually developed into a substantial portion of my dissertation, which
she directed. Since that time, she has helped me on numerous occasions
with advice and encouragement. Many other colleagues have read
through parts of the book at various stages and have provided useful
analysis and discussion. Particular thanks are due to Madison Sowell,
Christopher Kleinhenz, Santa Casciani, Richard Newhauser, Joseph
Parry, George Tate, Mark Wrathall, and Dallas Denery. When I fi rst con-
sidered the project as a book, Peter Hawkins kindly off ered encourage-
ment as well as a pre-publication look at his Dante’s Testaments. Jim
Faulconer’s work on the meaning and function of scripture helped me
to reconsider my conceptions of the pre-modern Bible. Kyle Anderson
(now fi nishing his PhD in Comparative Literature at Penn State) very
ably served as my research assistant at a crucial time, and his MA thesis
on Dante’s Earthly Paradise helped me to see that part of the poem in a