Letter to Can Grande della Scala

#criticism #Italy #primay

Dante Alighieri. Letter to Can Grande della Scala.

This text is great because it represents the transition from biblical studies to literary studies. Hermeneutics.

Place on List:

I. Literary Theory and Criticism

1. History of Literary Theory and Criticism until 1930

Dante Alighieri. Letter to Can Grande della Scala. Trans. Robert Haller.

Supporting References:

1. “Dante Alighieri.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2001. 246-49. Print.
2. Wetherbee, Winthrop. "Dante Alighieri." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Edward N. Zalta. Winter Edition. 2011. Web. 14 Aug 2013.

The article with URL( http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dante/ ) offers an overview of Dante and less a discussion on the Letter to Can Grande Della Scala.

“Dante's engagement with philosophy cannot be studied apart from his vocation as a writer, in which he sought to raise the level of public discourse by educating his countrymen and inspiring them to pursue happiness in the contemplative life. He was one of the most learned Italian laymen of his day, intimately familiar with Aristotelian logic and natural philosophy, theology (he had a special affinity for the thought of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas), and classical literature. His writings reflect this in its mingling of philosophical and theological language, invoking Aristotle and the neo-Platonists side by side with the poet of the psalms. Like Aquinas, Dante wished to summon his audience to the practice of philosophical wisdom, though by means of truths embedded in his own poetry, rather than mysteriously embodied in scripture.”