Dante's reception in the English-speaking world

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Nick Havely (University of York)
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In his own lifetime Dante’s work was already being circulated and appreciated by Italian readers. Following his death in 1321 an editorial and critical industry rapidly developed in Florence and elsewhere in Italy around the three parts of his

Commedia

:

Inferno

,

Purgatorio

, and

Paradiso

. Surviving manuscripts of all or part of the poem number more than eight hundred, and although most of these date from the fifteenth century, large-scale production of copies was well under way by the mid fourteenth. At least eleven Latin and vernacular commentaries on all or part of the

Commedia

date from the period up to 1355, and important examples continued to appear in the second half of the fourteenth century – notably those by Giovanni Boccaccio, Benvenuto da Imola and Francesco da Buti (Minnis…

4610 words

Citation: Havely, Nick. "Dante's reception in the English-speaking world". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 February 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5773, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5773 Dante's reception in the English-speaking world 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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