Barbara Reynolds is one of the world's best known Dante scholars. She completed the Penguin translation of Paradiso after the death of Dorothy L Sayers. She also translated Dante's early work La Vita Nuova and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. In addition, she has written a biography of Dorothy L Sayers and edited The Cambridge Italian Dictionary.
'Every so often a great scholar casts off conventional pedagogical restraints and rethinks their entire subject afresh. Barbara Reynolds' new biographical study is probably the most lively and accessible introduction to Dante now available. Reynolds offers adventurous and always intriguing solutions to some ancient Dante-puzzles, and cites the best recent research, much of it her own. The book is immensely readable, not least in its presentation of Dante as master showman - in all the spatial, visual, musical, and dramatic senses of the term.' Edward Peters, Henry Charles Lea Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania 'This highly original study of Dante and his works is the fruit of a lifetime's devotion to both poetry and scholarship. The breadth of its vision and the depth of its understanding will excite and provoke its readers. It suggests bold solutions to enigmas that have puzzled and tantalised scholars for centuries. It makes a significant contribution to Dante studies.' John A Scott, Emeritus Professor of Italian Studies, The University of Western Australia 'This masterly and revolutionary reconsideration of what is known of Dante's life - combined with a close and profound reading of Dante's work -restores to view the actual context in which the Divine Comedy was written. Barbara Reynolds paints a complete picture of Dante's difficult life and times, revealing the corruption, conflict, betrayal, wickedness and folly out of which he forged his transcendent vision of heaven and hell, and of right and wrong. The impressive scale of that vision cannot properly be comprehended without an appreciation of the earthy, material world from which Dante drew it. Like a latter-day Virgil, Dr Reynolds guides us to a fresh understanding of human and divine in the work of one of the world's greatest writers.' Jill Paton Walsh, author of Knowledge of Angels and GoldengroveTHE ECONOMISTA judicious new biography.THE BLOOMSBURY REVIEWA direct, alluring and accessible biography of one of literature's most enduring figures.Larry T. ShillockBarbara Reynolds interviewed on DIALOGUE (Ireland radio)
'Every so often a great scholar casts off conventional pedagogical restraints and rethinks their entire subject afresh. Barbara Reynolds' new biographical study is probably the most lively and accessible introduction to Dante now available. Reynolds offers adventurous and always intriguing solutions to some ancient Dante-puzzles, and cites the best recent research, much of it her own. The book is immensely readable, not least in its presentation of Dante as master showman - in all the spatial, visual, musical, and dramatic senses of the term.' Edward Peters, Henry Charles Lea Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania 'This highly original study of Dante and his works is the fruit of a lifetime's devotion to both poetry and scholarship. The breadth of its vision and the depth of its understanding will excite and provoke its readers. It suggests bold solutions to enigmas that have puzzled and tantalised scholars for centuries. It makes a significant contribution to Dante studies.' John A Scott, Emeritus Professor of Italian Studies, The University of Western Australia 'This masterly and revolutionary reconsideration of what is known of Dante's life - combined with a close and profound reading of Dante's work -restores to view the actual context in which the Divine Comedy was written. Barbara Reynolds paints a complete picture of Dante's difficult life and times, revealing the corruption, conflict, betrayal, wickedness and folly out of which he forged his transcendent vision of heaven and hell, and of right and wrong. The impressive scale of that vision cannot properly be comprehended without an appreciation of the earthy, material world from which Dante drew it. Like a latter-day Virgil, Dr Reynolds guides us to a fresh understanding of human and divine in the work of one of the world's greatest writers.' Jill Paton Walsh, author of Knowledge of Angels and GoldengroveTHE ECONOMISTA judicious new biography.THE BLOOMSBURY REVIEWA direct, alluring and accessible biography of one of literature's most enduring figures.Larry T. ShillockBarbara Reynolds interviewed on DIALOGUE (Ireland radio)
Reynolds (Italian, emerita, Cambridge Univ.; Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul) brings a lifetime of study to a new understanding of 13th-century Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri. Noting that there are few undisputed facts about Dante's life, she organizes the biography around his works. She is particularly interested in the oral qualities of Dante's writings and the personality in his text, arguing that most of the minor works were meant as lectures and that Dante performed or publicly read the Commedia as he composed it, altering directions in response to audience reception. Reynolds is well versed in the scholarship, but keeps this largely in the background. Her writing is always refreshing and fluent and, though it is accessible to the general reader, it is also of value to the specialist. Highly recommended. T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ., Savannah Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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