Dante and the Franciscans

Nicholas Havely is senior lecturer in the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York. He is the translator of Chaucer's Boccaccio (1980, 1992); editor of The House of Fame (1994), Chaucer's Dream Poetry (1997) and Dante's Modern Afterlife (1998); and author of numerous articles on Italian and English medieval literature, including the chapter on `Literature in Italian, French and English' in volume VI of The New Cambridge Medieval History (2000).

• List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Note on citations, translations and manuscript sources; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. From shame to honour: Tuscan and Franciscan poverty; 2. Inferno: avarice and authority'; 3. Purgatorio: poverty in spirit; 4. Paradiso: poverty and authority; Epilogue; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

'Dante and the Franciscans makes an impressive case that issues connected with Franciscan poverty have much to do with the Commedia on every level. Yet at the same time, the author's illuminating analyses of particular cantos of the poem show that he is anything but reductive in describing the influence of medieval Franciscanism and the poverty debates of the poem … The book succeeds on two levels: First it contextualises the poem in ways that should allow for a new appreciation (as well as further investigation) of Dante as prophet and critic of political and religious abuse. And second, the book provides careful readings in all three cantiche, which allow us to see Dante yet again as a poet unmatched in his ability to mine the discourses available to him.' Speculum