List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Prologue: Invitation to a Reader
Dante's Life and Works
The Life Story
The Figure of Beatrice
Political Life
The Work of Exile
On Vernacular
Eloquence and Philosophy for All
Universal Empire
The Birth of the Commedia
Vision or Brainstorm?
Textual Inspiration for the Poem
Early Circulation of the Poem
Dante's Journey to God
Inferno
Purgatorio
Paradiso
Dante's Beatrice
The Advent of Beatrice
The Problem of Beatrice
The Novelty of Beatrice
Bidding Adieu
Eros and Sex in the Commedia
Paolo and Francesca, Dante and Beatrice
Dante's Sexuality
A Beloved in the Flesh
Dante's Religion
Dante's Core Beliefs
Christian Florence
A Personal Faith Story
But Where is Christ?
The Christ of the Theologians
Mediations of Christ in the Commedia
Mary as Christ's Flesh
Daughter of Her Son
The Beatific Smile
Dante's Afterlife
Dante in English
From Beyond the Pale to Cultural Centrality
Twentieth-Century Dante
The Artist's Dante
The Commedia in Performance: Drama, Film, Television
Postmodern Dante
Commedia in Comics What Next?