Dante and His Circle

In this book, Julia Bolton Holloway makes use of primary materials in documents, manuscripts and stone monuments in Florence, to place Dante's literary career in its rich context. Dante and His Circle discusses the encyclopaedic multicultural education in classical literature, law, ethics, rhetoric, diplomacy, poetry, music and cosmology Brunetto Latino gave to Guido Cavalcante, Dante Alighieri and Francesco da Barberino. Bolton Holloway traces Latino’s use of Arabic methods he had learned at the Court of Alfonso X el Sabio in Spain in 1260. Next Latino dictates his 'Rettorica', 'Tesoretto' and 'Tesoro' in Italian to his students, following the Sicilian Vespers, the manuscripts of their circle later coming to be re-edited, illustrated and published by Dante's fellow student, Francesco da Barberino, who survived them all and who likewise copied Alfonsine methods for producing the 'Danti del Cento' manuscripts of the 'Commedia'. The book ends by discussing Dante's Decolonialism. Each chapter provides Study Questions for further research.

“This book promises surprises to those who would know more of Dante and the late medieval Italian literary, scribal, and political culture that shaped him. Often in the revealing tone of a memoir, Julia Bolton Holloway explores the bonds forged among a key group of Florentines, young and old, at the juncture between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, by their practice of rhetoric and shared love of language in the name of a new, civic discourse. Her meticulous reconstruction of the time and place of these friendships in letters takes us on an erudite journey from Florence to the towns in central and northern Italy where Dante and various friends reconnected over the poet’s lifetime. But the primary journey in Dante and His Circle is that of the book’s author whom we follow into libraries across Europe and the US, into a variety of institutions, far and wide, till she returns finally to her rightful home and place as custodian of the English Cemetery in Florence, complete withits own impressive bibliotechina.” (Dennis Looney, Independent Scholar and Consultant in Higher Education, Humanities, and International Education, USA) 

“An extraordinary journey in Dante’s Florence: the city, the arts, the music all come to life in Julia Bolton Holloway's elegant account of her research. But there is more: Dante and His Circle has much to offer the philologist and historian alike, bringing together the finest tradition of Dante scholarship and a fresh reader’s approach to Italy’s most famous poet. In the author’s own words, “Dante’s text is performative and sensual, of the right hemisphere, rather than of the abstracted silent reading of the left hemisphere.” (Francesco Ciabattoni, Professor in Italian Literature in Georgetown College, Director of Global Medieval Studies, Italian Department, Georgetown University, USA)

“This fascinating and innovative work offers a fresh look inside Dante's masterpiece, his native city, and medieval life, culture and society. It is not only solidly based on new archival findings, but also highly innovative and a true pleasure to read. Readers will find it difficult to put this book down, as they will be vividly catapulted into a time machine. Here they will find breathtaking images and historical reconstructions of Dante and his contemporaries, who clearly stand on their own right... in their own flesh and blood! Readers are given a new set of eyes to rediscover Dante's masterpiece and draw new fascinating connections within history, biography, literary criticism, rhetoric, iconography, palaeography, and even neuroscience.” (Nicolino Applauso, Director of the Foreign Language Laboratory, Morgan State University, USA)

Julia Bolton Holloway is Professor Emerita, Medieval Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder.