Experiencing the Afterlife provides the first sustained analysis of
popular, vernacular depictions of the afterlife written in Italy
before the Divine Comedy by authors such as Uguccione da Lodi,
Giacomino da Verona, and Bonvesin da la Riva. Manuele Gragnolati
uses his readings of these poets to provide a new interpretation of
Dante’s work. Combining elements from several disciplines, he
investigates the richness of high medieval eschatology and the
concept of personal identity it expresses. Gragnolati is
particularly concerned with how the notions of body and pain
characteristic of medieval spirituality and devotion inform the
eschatological representations of the time, especially in their
paradoxical urge to stress at once the physical experience of the
separated soul and the final necessity of bodily resurrection. By
integrating lesser-known texts and scholarship from other
disciplines into the specialized field of Dante studies, Gragnolati
sheds new light on some of the most vigorously debated and crucial
questions raised by the Divine Comedy, including the embryological
discourse of Purgatorio 25, the relation between the soul’s
experience of pain in Purgatory and the devotion that late medieval
culture expressed toward Christ’s suffering, and the significance
of the audacious vision of resurrected bodies that Dante the
pilgrim enjoys at the end of his journey. At the same time,
Gragnolati brings these questions back into contemporary
discussions of medieval eschatology and opens new perspectives for
current and future work on embodiment and identity. Scholars and
students of Dante and Italian studies, as well as those in medieval
history, religion, culture, and art history, will be rewarded by
the fresh insights contained in Experiencing the Afterlife.
General
Imprint: |
University of Notre Dame Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
William and Katherine Devers Series in Dante and Medieval Italian Literature |
Release date: |
August 2008 |
First published: |
August 2005 |
Authors: |
Manuele Gragnolati
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 17mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
298 |
Edition: |
New |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-268-02965-4 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-268-02965-2 |
Barcode: |
9780268029654 |
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