Dante: Poet of the Secular World (New York Review Books Classics)

One of my professors once said, "There's every book of literary criticism and theory ever written, and then there is Mimesis." Mimesis is certainly Auerbach' s most intricate and well-known work, but his shorter book on Dante is just as important in that it outlines the most brilliant literary theorist's pantheon of texts that help him form his unparalleled critical approaches. Dante features prominently in Mimesis, and this work furthers the theories he puts forth in that single chapter with more context for the reading of the Divine Comedy. Using the philosophical histories of Plato, those of the writers who challenged his his ironic claims about the nature of art (something Plato would have relished), and the aesthetic philosophies that can be gleaned from the new testament, Auerbach argues that Dante made the most crucial step forward in the development of human representation in art by allowing the human subject a fullness that was not limited by predetermined factors of characterization and subsequently destroyed the hierarchy of which persons were allowed to have what pasts and current/future plots.Auerbach' s text is in no way opaque or privileged for only advanced literary students. His prose is clear, showing a deep respect for the reader, and also carries with it a strong, poetic beauty. The latter is a rare combination since so many critics from Aristotle to present day scholars forget that analysis can be art in its own way (Auerbach obviously heeded Plato's complexity in terms of how to write but achieves poesy in his criticism that would make Oscar Wilde proud).What you get with this book are the following benefits:-Foremost, a concise and manageable study of Dante.-A deepening of your ability to appreciate the grand scope of Dante' s project.-A very bold but accurate theory of representation in literature, along with a short history of representation.-An introduction to Auerbach' s great piece Mimesis.-Finally, a more articulated understanding of Auerbach's literary thought, which will only improve your own analytical faculties.One final note, Auerbach--as the title of this study denotes--reveals a conception of Dante that seems completely incongruous with what we have been taught about the poet. I feel this to be an important contribution that needs to be used to show the staggering importance of the Divine Pilgrim, who seems to be viewed as less and less necessary to contemporary readers. Auerbach's controversial approach to Dante--who is a literary institution--helps to make Dante continuously accessible.

The extended essay of this work, like that of a third work, a collection of more detailed evaluation from an historic linguistic POV of a usage, relevant in establishing cultural foundations of Western and Christian literary art, beginning with his essay “Figura,” in its detail and precision, in tracing the defining moment in the transformation of an emerging term of art to its definitive for and meaning, as in the essay, “La Ville et La Cour,” is astoundingThe work on Dante is a very detailed exposition which reveals, especially in the Paradiso of the Divine Comedy, the face and character in an unparalleled poetic reality which reflects and challenges the lived assertions of the time. This, about the corruption of the Papacy, the greatness of St Francis of Assisi, and the deterioration of his mendicant movement following his death, the opinion of Saint Thomas Acquinas, as if alive and presented as he lived, in representation of true character and living presence, this, according to Auerbach, is what constitutes the “secular” world of his title. That usage is justified only as in the exact quality of the greater work, as “Comedy.”The point is the beauty of language and imagery in the recreation of Dante’s own time and experience, set within a higher world of final and definitive judgment.So, a work of surpassing greatness. The same of Auerbach’s essays and body of work.

Despite the wealth of critical works on Dante, this remains a must read. Accessible, thought-provoking, enjoyable, it does not get caught in specialists' language.

I'm not qualified to review this book ("eyes to wonder, lack tongues to praise"). Auerbach was a great scholar with immense erudition and command of many languages. Seemed to know the Comedy inside out, as well as the troubadour traditions leading up to its author. Me, I'm just some white-trash hillbilly. His prose, at least as rendered by Ralph Manheim, is magisterial. His passion and admiration for Dante is contagious. An opportunity to spend time with two great minds and a delightful complement to the rather more daunting Memisis.

Originally published in German in 1929. No ISBN for this one. Certainly a highly academic analysis of the origin of Dante's poetry, influence of the earlier Provencal poets, and the dolce stil nuovo ("sweet new style") embodied in Florentine poets of the 13th-14th C. According to the author, if I get his gist, Dante ushered in a new era and sensibility, which emerged out of the tensive forces between the Thomism of the Medievals, and the need to express reality without adverting to an outdated Platonic idealism. I disagree with the author that the Paradiso is as worthy of attention as is the Inferno, and less so the Purgatorio. The Inferno is a literary blockbuster, and is the one essential book in the Divine Comedy. It is vivid, gripping, humorous, tragic, humane, perceptively psychological, and timeless for its quality and literary innovation.

Possibly the best book by the best reader of the greatest poet.

Still one of the very best introductions to Dante. Auerbach was without question one of the very finest literary scholars of the twentieth century. His ability to blend close attention to rhetorical (literary) detail with a capacious understanding of larger religious and aesthetic shifts remains unrivaled.

A lovely book, indeed

Obra fantastica!

A must read for all those who want to know the roots of the modern West

NYRB has done a terrible job with this one. The text is misaligned significantly (printed on a slight slant) and the pages are bound with a very cheap glue. The spine cracked almost immediately. All this is a real shame, since the text itself is extraordinary. Auerbach deserves better.

The book is very well written, and contributes a great deal to the study of Dante. I would recomend it.

excellent book for university