Amilcare Iannucci – författare

Dante: Contemporary Perspectives gathers recent and newly commissioned articles on Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), whose epic the Divine Comedy, is one of the landmarks of world literature. The essays in this volume probe current critical assumptions about the celebrated Italian poet, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political theorist. Dante's attitude towards poetic authority and language comes under scrutiny in several essays, while others examine his political thought and his views on women and gender. Several articles focus exclusively on the Divine Comedy, and, in particular, on its distinctive textual characteristics. There are new readings of two of the Divine Comedy's most important episodes – those of Paolo and Francesca, the Earthly Paradise, and Ulysses – whose significance extends far beyond their immediate contexts. These essays bring into focus Dante's bold narrative innovations and reflections on literature and history.

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) is one of the seminal works of western literature. Its impact on modern culture has been enormous, nourishing a plethora of twentieth century authors from Joyce and Borges to Kenzaburo Oe. Although Dante's influence in the literary sphere is well documented, very little has been written on his equally determining role in the evolution of the visual media unique to our times, namely, cinema and television. Dante, Cinema, and Television corrects this oversight.The essays, from a broad range of disciplines, cover the influence of the Divine Comedy from cinema's silent era on through to the era of sound and the advent of television, as well as its impact on specific directors, actors, and episodes, on national/regional cinema and television, and on genres. They also consider the different modes of appropriation by cinema and television. Dante, Cinema, and Television demonstrates the many subtle ways in which Dante's Divine Comedy has been given 'new life' by cinema and television, and underscores the tremendous extent of Dante's staying power in the modern world.

Dante: Contemporary Perspectives gathers recent and newly commissioned articles on Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), whose epic the Divine Comedy, is one of the landmarks of world literature. The essays in this volume probe current critical assumptions about the celebrated Italian poet, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political theorist. Dante's attitude towards poetic authority and language comes under scrutiny in several essays, while others examine his political thought and his views on women and gender. Several articles focus exclusively on the Divine Comedy, and, in particular, on its distinctive textual characteristics. There are new readings of two of the Divine Comedy's most important episodes – those of Paolo and Francesca, the Earthly Paradise, and Ulysses – whose significance extends far beyond their immediate contexts. These essays bring into focus Dante's bold narrative innovations and reflections on literature and history.

Few figures from history evoke such vivid Orientalist associations as Marco Polo, the Venetian merchant, explorer, and writer whose accounts of the "Far East" sparked literary and cultural imaginations. The essays in Marco Polo and the Encounter of East and West challenge what many scholars perceived to be an opposition of "East" and "West" in Polo's writings. These writers argue that Marco Polo's experiences along the Silk Road should instead be considered a fertile interaction of cultural exchange.The volume begins with detailed studies of Marco Polo's narrative in its many medieval forms (including French, Italian, and Latin versions). They place the text in its material and generic contexts, and situate Marco Polo's account within the conventions of travel literature and manuscript illumination. Other essays consider the appropriation of Marco Polo's narrative in adaptations, translation, and cinematic art. The concluding section presents historiographic and poetic accounts of the place of Marco Polo in the context of a global world literature.By considering the production and reception of The Travels, this collection lays the groundwork for new histories of world literature written from the perspective of cultural, economic, and linguistic exchange, rather than conquest and conflict.