Dante’s «Commedia» and the Liturgical Imagination

Author: Matthew Treherne and Claire E. Honess Series: Leeds Studies on Dante

Medieval liturgical practice had a deep and far-reaching influence on thought and experience of the time. This book argues that Dante’s engagement with liturgy is central to the daring and highly original poetic project of the Commedia, shaping its treatment of time, its engagement with theology, and its portrayal of the soul’s awakening.

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Medieval liturgical practice both expressed and helped shape habits of thought and imagination in ways which were deep and far-reaching, encompassing embodied, lived experience and the most sophisticated theological thought. This book argues that Dante, in common with his contemporaries, saw the liturgical rituals of the Church as a mode of religious practice which manifested what he considered to be the central truths regarding the relationship between God, human beings, and the world. It also shows how Dante’s Commedia engages with medieval understandings of the sacraments, an idea which has been largely neglected in studies of Dante. Seen in this way, the poet’s engagement with liturgy is central to the daring and highly original poetic project of the Commedia, shaping its treatment of time, its engagement with theology, and its portrayal of the soul’s awakening to the condition of creation itself.

About the Author

Matthew Treherne is Professor of Italian Literature at the University of Leeds, where he co-founded the Leeds Centre for Dante Studies with Claire Honess. He is co-editor, with Vittorio Montemaggi, of Dante’s «Commedia»: Theology as Poetry (2010), and, with Claire Honess, of Reviewing Dante’s Theology (2 vols, 2013), and «Se mai continga…»: Exile, Politics and Theology in Dante (2013). He was Principal Investigator on the AHRC-funded project «Dante and Late Medieval Florence: Theology in Poetry, Practice and Society» and runs the Leeds Dante Podcast. At Leeds, he has been Head of the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies and Director of the Leeds Humanities Research Institute.