Dante.

AuthorTomaselli, Michael

Took, John, Dante. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. 608 pages. Hardcover, $31.69.

Dante Algheri has remained a fixture in many examinations of the Renaissance. However, Professor John Took proposes a more nuanced examination of his life in his 2020 work, Dante. In this one-of-a-kind biography, Took avoids getting preoccupied with the broad strokes conflating the timeless nature of the works with the poet himself. The author, instead, is more interested in the internal struggles and dialogue Dante faced. Took's Dante should be read on two levels: the main purpose of the book is to tease out those nuanced analyses of the poet's thought process and struggle. On another level, Took is holding a mirror to the typical types of biographies produced of Dante. To the author, scholars have spent so much time examining the specific works and interpretations, we are missing a large part of the narrative.

The author begins his examination of the poet by outlining a chapter of "Historical Considerations." Took immediately sets the tone of the biography for the reader as a work intrenched in the historiographical landscape of Dante. In order to accomplish his goals of a revolutionary biography, Took brings the reader into the world in which Dante was born by examining the ideological background of the world we find the poet. The author spends time examining how the city of Florence changed from the Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Blacks and the Whites, and the Descent and Demise of Henry VII.

Took also highlights the changes and struggles Dante faced by examining the different phases of the poet's career through the lens of Dante's "literary hinterland." These under-examined works highlight shifts in Dante's global paradigm. Took follows this with an exhaustive look at Dante's career from La Vita Nova, to the Convivo, and ending in political letters such as the Monarchia. By using this path, Took is able demystify the poet's...

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