Life of Dante by Giovanni Boccaccio

Life of Dante Reviews

• 
  Viji (Bookish endeavors)

  Beautiful.! Simply beautiful.!! That's what it was. Boccaccio intended to write a biography and ended up writing a poetry. I was struck by the beauty of his words,rather than the content. Content doesn't seem much reliable,even though Boccaccio had access to most of the details. Instead of concentrating on the details and making it an objective systematic biography,he gave importance to emotions. The whole book can be read in one stretch,the flow is so good and the words so beautiful..
• 
  Rick Davis

  Boccaccio, who is best known for his Decameron, was a fellow Florentine and was 10 years old when Dante died. In his Life of Dante, In this book Boccaccio shares anecdotes he has gathered about Dante from people who knew him, most notably Dante’s sister and nephew. Boccaccio seems to have some sort of ADHD issues as he is constantly going off into rabbit trails and diversions. For example, he spends an entire chapter railing against women in the most humorously misogynistic way imaginable after telling of Dante’s wedding. Then, after spending several pages beating up wives and women in general, he adds shortly that he doesn’t really know anything about Dante’s relationship with his wife. A more notable rabbit trail comes later in the book when he details the beginnings of poetry from pagan mythology. Though it has absolutely nothing to do with Dante, this was my favorite chapter of the book because it provides one of the best arguments I’ve ever seen on why Christians should read works of pagan literature.
  
  Despite the fun, anecdotal nature of the biography however, the reader is left without a real framework of Dante’s life. We learn about how Dante sat on a public bench reading while a huge parade went by and was so engrossed in his book that he didn’t even notice. However, we are not told why Dante was expelled from Florence, how he died, or other essential pieces of information about his life. Fortunately the copy I read appended a 12 page supplement to Boccaccio written by Leonardo Bruni during Boccaccio’s life in order to provide all the details that were passed over in Boccaccio’s wild romp.
  
  Overall, I recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of Dante’s writings and interesting in getting a personal view of Dante from people who lived in and around his time period.
  
  
• 
  Illiterate

  Slight. A glimpse into Boccaccio’s sensibility as much as a study of Dante.
• 
  Ben

  Oh, foolish minds! One brief fragment of an hour will separate the spirit from the failing body, and bring to nothing all the blameworthy toils, and time, which must consume all things, will either quickly destroy the memory of the wealthy man, or preserve it for a little while to his shame. This certainly will not happen to our poet. Rather, just as we see implements of war become more brilliant by usage, so will it be with his name, and the more it is rubbed by time, the more it will continue to shine. Therefore let him who wants to, toil on in his own pursuits, and let it suffice him to be left alone to do so, without seeking to censure another's virtuous work, condemning things which he does not understand himself.

  
  What would Dante think of this biography?
  
  Giovanni Boccaccio, an Italian master in his own right, professes reverberating vibrato in his praise for Dante and condemnation of Florence; his logical arguments regarding virtues and vices, his definitions on the nature of poetry and greatness, resound with inspiration. But how would Dante, as the primary subject of this work (digressions aside), characterize it?
  
  As a modern reader, one must consider Boccaccio's motivations as well as his audience's demands. As medieval literature bridged over to early Renaissance, was Boccaccio more concerned with accurately recounting Dante's life or with composing a treatise glorifying the meaning of that life as exemplified through his craft?
  
  Throughout the book, Boccaccio describes Dante's experience as one fraught with ill-fortune rather than personal choices; as a tragic victim of circumstance. While describing a man who composed one of the greatest epic poems in western culture analyzing merits, Boccaccio does not seem to analyze Dante's experiences according to his merits. Boccaccio rather characterizes Dante as an ascetic man of learning who did not gain his appropriate reward - the same analysis he may have provided for any wise man of Dante's caliber who similarly suffered. In this sense, Boccaccio does not illustrate a life of Dante in particular but rather delivers fiery sermons on the just deserts of anyone with such brilliance. He calls Dante's tendency to love a distraction from his studies; something that cheated him out of additional greatness and higher learning. But let us not forget that Dante's vision of God centered around love. So I ask again: Was Boccaccio more concerned with remaining true to Dante or with broadcasting his own ideas?
  
  Any skeptic would likely jerk at the smelling salts of Dante's mother's prophetic dreams or his son's vision of the location of the The Divine Comedy's last thirteen cantos. With these devices Boccaccio adds a legendary quality to the memory of Dante; as if telling the tale of a Homeric or biblical hero. Again, what is Boccaccio's intention?
  
  I believe Boccaccio simply wants to glorify his craft and compel society to help him. Any great civilization focuses on its heroes rather than its sins. When that society's sins fall to its heros, men propagating glory must intervene lest the mythical illusion fade. Therefore, rather than reading a true biography of a man; composed of astounding accomplishments, shameful flaws and vulnerabilities, we read of a legend whose fellow man jabbed a spear into his side but to whom they should all aspire to emulate.
• 
  Fra' Emme

  Vbb, io cinque stelle gliele do perché è Giovannuzzo mio, ma ci sono degli errori, delle cose che non vanno. Non cita le fonti, sbaglia le date (il De Vulgari Eloquentia e il Convivio mica li scrive poco prima di morire, Dante, Giova', che mi combini, bastava controllare un attimo su Wikipedia), insomma, si apprezza l'impegno ma si poteva fare di meglio.
  Ma poi, quella sparata contro Gemma Donati, Boccacciuzzo adorato, ma che t'ha fatto di male?
  Daje, su.
• 
  Caio Andrade

  
• 
  Castles

  I can’t really “review” a book of this kind but I’ll just say I found the dream about the peacock that Boccaccio describes very interesting (I wonder what Freud would think about that).
  
  I also owe a lot to the added text, the epilogue, in the edition I’ve read, which shed some light about the context of the book, the fact that Petrarch pretty or much patronized Dante when Boccaccio introduced him his books, and more details which were very enlightening. Of course, one of the most important of them is that one should read this book as literature and not as a serious academic biography of Dante, having so much academic research since Boccaccio’s times (yet it’s important to understand the endless admiration Boccaccio had for Dante).
  
  I’ve read the Decameron around the time the Corona virus started its course to change our life, let’s hope that this second book of Boccaccio that I read will put the COVID virus back to where it came from.
  
  
• 
  Daniel1974nlgmail.com

  Probably not really historical accurate (though he still had access to many primary sources or could even speak to people who had actually known Dante). But then like another reviewer also stated. This is probably not a book about Dante, but about what Boccaccio thought about Dante. But whatever it is or what the author intended. People do not write or speak like this anymore. Even in an English translation, this is a piece of writing of exceptional beauty.
  
  Of the three traditional Tuscan Poets / Writers, Boccaccio is often regarded as the lesser and Dante & Petrarch re held in much higher esteem. From the style in this book, one could wonder if this is a fair judgement.
  
  The book also contents extracts from other writers such as Villani and Bruni (another admirer of Dante).
  
  
• 
  Justin Evans

  I wish there was a better biography of Dante. At least this is entertaining, and short.
• 
  Eleanor Sullivan

  I want to love something as much as Boccaccio loves Dante
  
  I also don’t appreciate having to read this entire biography between class sessions
• 
  Marcos Augusto

  There is a tone of high and almost religious praise of the work of Dante, and, although the first pages, where Dante's love for Beatrice is touched, have a delicately fictional flavor, modern Dante criticism has recognized in the work a few authentic information drawn from oral tradition and learned from the hands of people who had known Alighieri.
  
  But the recasting of the biographical material was certainly not cautious and positive, and around the figure of the divine poet vibrates like a halo of legend conforming to the ideal type that, in Alighieri, Boccaccio outlines and honors as the first, august and heroic lover of poetry and science. Thus the Trattatello is no less a praise of Dante than a praise of poetry. Loyal to medieval aesthetics is the criterion for which Boccaccio places the greatness and beauty of poetry in the intimate bond of this with philosophy.
  
  The praise of wisdom and erudition, adhering to the intimately secular spirit of Dante's Convivio, and an expression of fresh enthusiasm for classical erudition.
  
  Characteristic, because taken up later by the humanists, is the discussion of the reason for the use, in the Comedy, of the vulgar instead of the Latin: a discussion that Boccaccio closes by resorting, in essence, to Dante's justification, already put forward for his Convivio, on the decadence of liberal studies, the knowledge of Latin limited to literati only, the scarce usefulness of a poem written in Latin, and the consequent need, for Dante, to write his poem in a style suited to the modern senses.
• 
  Genevieve

  This is an awesome little biography, especially because while it is the first written biography of Dante, Boccaccio goes off on his own little rants about politics, poetry, wives, etc. He is very critical of Dante's wife for distracting him from his writing, and rants, "Who does not know that everything which is bought is tried by the purchaser before he buys it, except a wife?"
• 
  Lilit Khachatryan

  Actually this book is not about Dante, it's about what Boccaccio thinks about Dante.
• 
  Marko Vasić

  Bokačo ovde ne koristi one hladne, faktografske rečenice biografa, nego u prvi plan stavlja svoj poetični izraz. Zbog toga se i čitav traktat čita, čini se, u jednom dahu. Doduše, naslućuje se poprilična njegova ostrašćenost prema Danteu koji u nekim delovima ide do apoteoze, ali ne smeta, naprotiv: na primer – Bokačo Danteovo poreklo vodi da je od Frangipania, jedne od loza potomaka osnivača Rima. Neki su podaci netačni (uzmimo u obzir da je ova knjiga objavljena oko 1360. godine), što su potonji biografi, npr.
  Paget Toynbee, (čiju
  knjigu trenutno „bistrim“) citirajući Bokača primetili i ispravili te greške. Deo u kome Bokačo govori o susretu Dantea sa Beatričom, o čemu i sâm Dante, mada drugačijim tonom, govori u
  Vita Nuova mi je jedan od najpoetičnijih: „U vrijeme, kad blago podneblje svojim ukrasima zaodijeva zemlju, i svu je čarobnom čini šarenilom cvijeća sred zelenog lišća, bijaše običaj u našemu gradu, da ljudi i žene, svaki u svome kraju, priređuju svečanosti u uglednu društvu. Tako je među ostalima slučajno Folco Portinari, čovjek u ono vrijeme veoma ugledan među građanima, bio okupio prvoga dana mjeseca svibnja obližnje susjede u svoju kuću na svečanost, a među njima je bio i već spomenuti Alighieri. Njega je pratio Dante, koji još nije bio navršio devetu godinu, jer su maleni dječaci običavali pratiti očeve, a naročito na svečanosti; i pomiješavši se tamo među svoje vršnjake, kojih je bilo mnogo u kući svečara, pošto su blagovali, stao se Dante s ostalima djetinjski zabavljati onim, što je njegovo mlado doba moglo da radi. Među mnoštvom djece bila je i kćerka gore spomenutog Folca, kojoj je bilo ime Bice, premda ju je otac uvijek po osnovnom obliku zvao. tj. Beatrice. Bilo joj je oko osam godina.“ O Danteovom stvarnom braku i četvoro dece, Bokačo tek poneku smernicu daje. Glagoljiv je, međutim, o Danteovim posmrtnim počastima i o epitafu koji je Giovanni del Virgillio, Danteov prijatelj, napisao na njegovom grobu. Takođe, ostrašćeno prekoreva Firencu i njene građane za nepravdu koju su Danteu progonstvom načinili i što mu nije dozvoljen povratak u rodni grad, već se njegov grob, i dan danas nalazi u Raveni. Upečatljiv mi je njegov opis Danteove fizionomije iz mladosti, gde pominje da je nosio crnu, kovrdžavu bradu, što se ni na jednoj bisti koje ga prikazuju u poznijem dobu, na kojima se uočava njegov orlovski nos i kolerično-melanholično povijene usne ne vidi, kao ni na posmrtnoj maski. U poslednjem segmentu, izlistao je Danteov literarni učinak i ukazao koliki je njegov značaj u italijanskoj ali i svetskoj književnoj baštini, budući da je prvi počeo da koristi tzv. narodni jezik da na njemu piše svoja dela, kako bi bila svakome dostupna.
• 
  Pamela

  Boccaccio’s work is more of an essay than what we would understand as a biography. He hurries through the events of Dante’s life, omitting many significant facts such as why Dante was exiled from Florence. He often digresses on themes of interest to him, such as how unreasonable women are ( “And no man may live his life in safety when he has committed himself to any woman who thinks she has good cause to be angry with him. And they all think so.”) or the difference between poetry and theology. We also rarely know the sources for his information, which is dismissed as ‘everyone says so’ or ‘we don’t know who said this but it doesn’t matter’.
  
  Nevertheless, this approach itself offers a lot of insight into what aspects Boccaccio finds most important in his hero’s life. He passionately defends Dante’s political involvement and accuses Florence of shameful neglect. He describes Dante’s passion for Beatrice, and succinctly describes Dante’s literary works in both Latin and the vernacular. The work is beautifully written, often amusing, and full of life.
• 
  Júlia Hardmeier

  When you read a biography written by a fanboy, you should know what to expect: praises to the highest of heavens up to the point that you wouldn't know what is true and what is a hyperbole. All that being said, and apart of the not so easy to read style, it was a good short glimpse into the life of Dante. Also some interesting points about poetry as an art from the late medieval points of view of Boccaccio. Not bad.
• 
  Ray LaManna

  The very first biography of Dante ever written. Boccaccio was seven years old when Dante died, so he wrote a near-contemporary life. Good insights, especially into why Dante wrote the Divine Comedy in the vernacular Italian instead of Latin... and thank God for that, since he essentially gave us the contemporary Italian language.
• 
  Raquel

  Muito bem escrito, traça uma visão romântica da vida do gigante italiano, um verdadeiro profeta da idade média.
• 
  Matilda

  Boccaccio was a little bit too in love with Dante.
• 
  Maan Kawas

  I really enjoyed this biography of Dante by Boccaccio!
• 
  Lorena N

  Un interessante documento per capire meglio l'apprezzamento che l'opera di Dante ebbe pre e post mortem..
• 
  snezhy

  Delulu, the blueprint
• 
  Devo

  If ever there was any doubt (there wasn't) Giovanni Boccaccio is the biggest Dante fanboy and I live for it! Five stars, justice for Dante!
• 
  Maria

  4⭐️
• 
  Freddie Hudson

  
  What if I deified you into a messiah-esque figure bro... no homo.
• 
  Ben Lucas

  A great little volume! Just what I was looking for.