Alan of Lille and Dante
Divine Predication from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Century

Gabriella Addivinola

Italian Perspectives 61

Legenda

  January 2025

ISBN: 978-1-839542-20-6 (hardback)  •  RRP £95, $120, €120

ISBN: 978-1-839542-21-3 (paperback, forthcoming)

ISBN: 978-1-839542-22-0 (JSTOR ebook)

MedievalItalianPoetry


Divine predication is a central concern of two key authors of Western medieval culture: the theologian and poet Alan of Lille (1125/30-1202/3) and Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). In representing the created universe in their poems, respectively the Anticlaudianus and the Divine Comedy, they have to deal with the paradox that God is both the source of all creation and also a transcendent being, beyond our understanding or description. Human predicates such as ‘just’ change their meaning if applied to God, whose essential nature is entirely different from ours. So, as this book demonstrates, when Alan and Dante speak of God, or claim to write like God, when they investigate the structure of the world in their poetry, they rely on a wide and technical discourse situated at the crossroads of semantics, logic, metaphysics and theology. Addivinola's study shows how these theoretical discussions are reframed in novel poetic forms, where these authors explore the limits of language and its creative possibilities.

Gabriella Addivinola completed her PhD at the University of Warwick and has since taught at the University of Savoy Mont Blanc, at Ghent University and at the University of Turin.

Bibliography entry:

Addivinola, Gabriella, Alan of Lille and Dante: Divine Predication from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Century, Italian Perspectives, 61 (Legenda, 2025)

First footnote reference: 35 Gabriella Addivinola, Alan of Lille and Dante: Divine Predication from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Century, Italian Perspectives, 61 (Legenda, 2025), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Addivinola, p. 47.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)

Bibliography entry:

Addivinola, Gabriella. 2025. Alan of Lille and Dante: Divine Predication from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Century, Italian Perspectives, 61 (Legenda)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Addivinola 2025: 21).

Example footnote reference: 35 Addivinola 2025: 21.

(To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.)


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