Philosophy Mysticism and the Political

<p><b>Nine masterful essays on Dante's </b><b><i>Divine Comedy</i></b><b> and his political theology by one of today's leading Italian philosophers.</b></p><p>Among today's Italian philosophers Massimo Cacciari is perhaps the most assiduous commentator of Dante. <i>Philosophy Mysticism and the Political</i> collects all of Cacciari's writings on Dante to this day from his masterful analysis of St. Francis of Assisi in Dante's <i>Paradiso</i> and Giotto's frescoes to a new consideration of Dante's European idea of empire as a federation of nations peoples and languages. Cacciari does not force Dante into any philosophical straitjacket. Rather he walks with Dante takes notes asks questions raises issues and tries to understand the <i>Divine Comedy</i> in Dante's terms. Cacciari approaches Dante's Ulysses and the theologico-philosophical vertigo of <i>Paradiso</i> not as a critic but from the point of view of a faithful assiduous perceptive sometimes perplexed and sometimes worshipful reader. Cacciari's analysis shows once more that Dante does not belong to the past. Dante creates his own age and stays with us whenever we wish to follow his path.</p>