Dante’s Blood
Anne C. Leone
Click cover to enlarge Buy hardback at: Booksellers & libraries: | Legenda 31 August 2023 • 230pp ISBN: 978-1-839541-72-8 (hardback) • RRP £95, $120, €120 ISBN: 978-1-839541-73-5 (paperback, 11 August 2026) • RRP £15.99, $19.99, €17.99 ISBN: 978-1-839541-74-2 (JSTOR ebook) Dante’s works contain too much and too little blood. On the one hand, one might wonder why there is any blood in the Comedy; why are the souls – which lack flesh and blood – bleeding at all? On the other hand, we must ask: in a Christian poem that claims to be salvific, why are references to the Eucharist, and to the Passion either implicit, understated or parodic? Investigating blood across all of the poet’s works, Leone shows that Dante’s treatment of blood reveals a sophisticated and self-conscious metaliterary project: the poet exploits blood’s connotative force in medieval culture in ways that engage with – and diverge from – the various traditions and cultural practices that inform his work: scientific, theological, devotional, classical and literary. Anne C. Leone is Assistant Professor of Italian Studies at Syracuse University. Winner of the 2024 American Association of Teachers of Italian First Book Award, with the citation: Leone’s investigation of blood’s “diverse implications and polysemous agency” in Dante’s works is rigorously researched and well-documented. This detailed and enlightening study represents an important contribution to future studies on the body. Leone authoritatively traces a wide range of literary, scientific, medical, political, theological and religious implications of blood employed by the sommo poeta. Each of the well-developed chapters highlights the role blood plays in Dante’s works as well as in the greater medieval context, ranging from Aristotle’s ideas about conception to its central role in artistic creation and divine inspiration. In this comprehensive book, Leone offers an engaging, multi-level reading of the question with which it opens: “[W]hy is the image of blood pouring down the Pier delle Vigne’s wooden frame the only one that comes close to dramatizing the Crucifixion in the Commedia?” Reviews:
Bibliography entry: Leone, Anne C., Dante’s Blood, Italian Perspectives, 59 (Legenda, 2023) First footnote reference: 35 Anne C. Leone, Dante’s Blood, Italian Perspectives, 59 (Legenda, 2023), p. 21. Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Leone, p. 47. (To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.) Bibliography entry: Leone, Anne C.. 2023. Dante’s Blood, Italian Perspectives, 59 (Legenda) Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Leone 2023: 21). Example footnote reference: 35 Leone 2023: 21. (To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.) This title is distributed on behalf of MHRA by Ingram’s. Booksellers and libraries can order direct from Ingram by setting up an ipage Account: click here for more. Permanent link to this title: www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Dantes-Blood www.mhra.org.uk/publications/ip-59 |
