A HANDBOOK TO DANTE. BY 89775 GIOVANNI A. SCARTAZZINI. TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN, WITH NOTES BY THOMAS DAVIDSON. BOSTON: GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 1887. His greatness has, in all senses, concentrated itself into fiery emphasis and depth. He is world-great, not because he is world-wide, but because he is world-deep. Through all objects he pierces as it were down into the heart of Being. I know nothing so intense as Dante. . . . I know not in the world an affection equal to that of Dante. CARLYLE. Copyright, 1887, by THOMAS DAVIDSON. J. S. CUSHING & Co., PRINTERS, Boston. PREFACE. LAST summer, while preparing some lectures on Dante, I was struck with the fact that there did not exist in English any Handbook to Dante, any book calculated to furnish intending students of his works with the necessary preparatory information, historical, bibliographical, biographical, and literary. My first impulse was to attempt the compilation of such a book, which seemed called for by the daily-increasing interest in the great Christian poet; but, on reflection, it seemed to me that I might obtain a better result, by translating some Italian or German manual, and making such additions as would suit it to the needs of Englishspeaking students. This I have now done, having selected for translation the Dante-Manual which finds most favor in Italy, which is the work of one of the best Dante-scholars of our time, and which seems to me almost a model for a Handbook. My own additions, which, for the most part, take the form of foot-notes, included in brackets, will, it is hoped, add to the value of the work, and supplement certain one-sided views held by Dr. Scartazzini. |