Reading Dante

Keenly aware that thousands of books have been written about The Divine Comedy, Prue Shawone of the worlds foremost Dante authoritiesis convinced that an accessible, non-scholarly work that explicated Dante is needed. Just as Dante becomes a poet with a prophetic mission, Reading Dante becomes far more than an exegesis of Dantes three-part Commedia. It offers a literary experience that lifts the reader into the universal realms of poetry and mythology, revealing how one can recover time-past through memory and language. Whether challenging the notion that Dante was vindictive, decoding the numerology that can confound readers or positioning Dantes tortured life within the framework of fourteenth-century Florence, Shaw creates an astonishingly lyrical work that will appeal to both those whove never read the Commedia and those who have. Reading Dante underscores Dantes belief that poetry can change human lives.