In a masterly synthesis of historical and literary analysis, Giuseppe Mazzotta shows how medieval knowledge systems--the cycle of the liberal arts, ethics, politics, and theology--interacted with poetry and elevated the Divine Comedy to a central position in shaping all other forms of discursive knowledge. To trace the circle of Dante's intellectua
Reviews
One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1993 "Mazzotta's path-breaking alignment of medieval encyclopedias with Dante's poem sets new trends for Dante scholarship while silencing the debate between formalists and non-formalists which has directed Dante scholarship since the turn of the century. The book also offers startling new directions for medieval studies in general."--Brenda Deen Schildgen, Modern Language Notes
