The Commentary on the Divine Comedy, and Other Writings on Dante, Vol. 3

Giovanni BoccaccioProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.9
Word count
603K words
Chapters
61

Tags

Foreign Language Books Literary Appreciation Humanistic CareWestern ThoughtDante StudiesAcademic StudyIntellectual CommentaryLiterary CriticismClassical CommentaryTraditional AestheticsEclectic ReadingAncient Style

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Il Comento alla Divina Commedia, e gli altri scritti intorno a Dante, vol. 3Author: Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375,Language: Italian, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Dec 7, 2014

Editor's review

This is the third volume of Boccaccio's commentary on Dante's Divine Comedy, an electronic edition of a public-domain Italian text. Its value lies not in providing a modern introduction but in showing how a fourteenth-century reader understood the Divine Comedy: Boccaccio was both a poet and a master storyteller, and his commentary often blends scholastic literal explanation with lively anecdotes and allegorical extensions, letting readers see late medieval Italian literary criticism in action. For those studying the reception history of Dante, the history of Italian literature, or Boccaccio's own thought, this volume provides first-hand material; ordinary readers willing to read slowly can also sense the early humanists' reverence and curiosity toward the classics. Note that the original is in Italian and the commentary conventions differ from today's academic standards; when reading, it is best to consult the original text of the Divine Comedy and treat it as a historical document rather than a reference book.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. First read through the relevant cantos of the Divine Comedy, then read Boccaccio's commentary section by section alongside them.
  2. Prepare an Italian dictionary and Dante's original text, and mark allusions in the commentary first.
  3. Read the commentary as a historical text and note how Boccaccio explains allegory and literal meaning.
  4. Excerpt passages of interest volume by volume and make simple comparisons with modern and contemporary annotated editions.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61

FAQ

Is this book a Chinese edition? No. This is an Italian e-book released by Project Gutenberg; both the main text and the commentary are in Italian, with no Chinese translation. Chinese readers need some ability to read Italian or should use it with bilingual materials.
What does the third volume contain? According to the title and public-domain information, this is the third volume of Boccaccio's commentary on the Divine Comedy and related short writings on Dante; the specific contents should be based on the e-book's table of contents. It is one volume in a series and should not be understood in isolation from the first two volumes.
Is it suitable for getting started with the Divine Comedy? Not very suitable. Boccaccio's commentary is distant from today's readers, and both its conventions and language pose barriers; it is better suited to readers who have already read the Divine Comedy and want to understand the early commentary tradition. Beginners should first choose a modern introduction or a Chinese annotated edition.
What should I note when reading? Note that this is a historical document rather than modern scholarly annotation; some explanations reflect the knowledge background of the fourteenth century and may not match today's research conclusions. It is advisable to consult the original text and other annotated editions and maintain critical reading.

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About the author

Giovanni Boccaccio Author · Italian · 1313–1375

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) was an Italian writer and poet, a pioneer of Renaissance humanism, and, together with Dante and Petrarch, one of the three great literary figures of his age. His masterpiece, The Decameron, is set against the Black Death in Florence and consists of one hundred stories told in turn by ten young men and women who have fled to the countryside; its themes range over love, wit and human affairs, and its vivid language had a profound influence on European narrative literature. He also wrote works such as Filocolo and Fiammetta, as well as studies on Dante. This collection holds eleven of his works, mostly different editions of The Decameron and related writings, reflecting the humanist concerns of a period of transition from the Middle Ages to the modern era.