Gladstone and Dante by Anne Isba
Close examination of William Gladstone's engagement with Dante, and its effect upon his political and personal life. From the point at which he first read the Commedia, at the age of twenty-four, William Gladstone was to consider Dante Alighieri one of the major influences in his life, on a par with Homer and St Augustine, and to identifyhimself strongly with the poet. Both were statesmen as well as scholars, for whom civic duty was more important than personal convenience. Both were serious theologians as well as simple spiritual pilgrims. Both idealised women. This book shows how Gladstone found in Dante an endorsement of his own beliefs as he negotiated a path through life. Isba traces the development of his enthusiasm against the background of a resurgent Italy in a new Europe, and in the context of the Victorian fashion for all things medieval. She also examines the parallels between the two men's attitudes to sex and religion in particular, and closes by analysing the quality of Gladstone's own writingon Dante (he was to become an internationally recognised Dante scholar) .
Anne Isba read Modern Languages at Oxford and has a doctorate in Victorian Studies. A former journalist, she is the author of Gladstone and Dante, Gladstone and Women and The Excellent Mrs Fry, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Keele and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780861932771 |
| ISBN 10 | 0861932773 |
| Title | Gladstone and Dante |
| Author | Anne Isba |
| Series | Royal Historical Society Studies In History New Series |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Boydell & Brewer Ltd |
| Year published | 2006-06-15 |
| Number of pages | 172 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |