Marco Santagata – författare

A comprehensive biography of the celebrated author of the Decameron, a medieval masterpiece written in early Italian.                                               Boccaccio (1313–75) stands with Dante and Petrarch as one of the “Three Crowns” of Italian letters, a trio of writers who shaped the history of humanism, literature, and poetry. In this book, Dante’s award-winning biographer, Marco Santagata, takes up the moving life and legacy of Boccaccio—whose unflinching story of a pandemic-era community (the Decameron) created new possibilities for vernacular Italian prose.This landmark biography sheds new light on Boccaccio’s life—his family, friends, and foes, his aspirations, fears, and frustrations—and it shows how he was affected by transformations in Italian society. It also charts the influences that shaped Boccaccio’s understanding of literature: what kinds of stories it could tell and what kinds of characters it could depict; and, perhaps most importantly, what role art could play in a changing world. An insightful portrait of one of literature’s most important figures, this book promises to be the definitive biography of Boccaccio for many years to come.

A Times Literary Supplement Book of the YearA Marginal Revolution Best Non-Fiction Book of the YearA Seminary Co-op Notable Book of the YearA Times Higher Education Book of the WeekA Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the YearMarco Santagata’s Dante: The Story of His Life illuminates one of the world’s supreme poets from many angles—writer, philosopher, father, courtier, political partisan. Santagata brings together a vast body of Italian scholarship on Dante’s medieval world, untangles a complex web of family and political relationships for English readers, and shows how the composition of the Commedia was influenced by local and regional politics.“Reading Marco Santagata’s fascinating new biography, the reader is soon forced to acknowledge that one of the cornerstones of Western literature [The Divine Comedy], a poem considered sublime and universal, is the product of vicious factionalism and packed with local scandal.”—Tim Parks, London Review of Books“This is a wonderful book. Even if you have not read Dante you will be gripped by its account of one of the most extraordinary figures in the history of literature, and one of the most dramatic periods of European history. If you are a Dantean, it will be your invaluable companion forever.”—A. N. Wilson, The Spectator

El aspecto más destacado de la personalidad de Dante es sentirse diferente y predestinado. Es una idea que empezó a nutrir desde joven y que se reforzará con el tiempo hasta desembocar en la convicción de haber sido investido por Dios de la misión profética de salvar a la humanidad. Este libro constituye un documentado retrato y una apasionante ¿novela¿ de un Dante profundamente enraizado en la vida de su ciudad, Florencia, y en la compleja dinámica de la historia italiana de los siglos XIII y XIV. Traza, por un lado, la más completa semblanza del Dante padre de familia, filósofo, poeta, hombre de corte, a la vez que analiza su obra a la luz del contexto histórico y biográfico en el que el autor la concibió y dio forma. Arte y vida, íntimamente unidos, iluminan una existencia llena de inéditos y sorprendentes descubrimientos.