Alan of Lille and Dante: Divine Predication from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Century

Divine predication is a central concern of two key authors of Western medieval culture: the theologian and poet Alan of Lille (1125/30-1202/3) and Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). In representing the created universe in their poems, respectively the Anticlaudianus and the Divine Comedy, they have to deal with the paradox that God is both the source of all creation and also a transcendent being, beyond our understanding or description. Since God's essential nature is entirely different from ours, predicates drawn from human discourse are radically transformed or deemed inadequate to express the divine. As this book demonstrates, when Alan and Dante speak of God, or claim to write like God, when they investigate the structure of the world in their poetry, they rely on a wide and technical discourse situated at the crossroads of semantics, logic, metaphysics and theology. Addivinola's study shows how these theoretical discussions are reframed in novel poetic forms, where these authors explore the limits of language and its creative possibilities.

Gabriella Addivinola completed her PhD at the University of Warwick and has since taught at the University of Savoy Mont Blanc, at Ghent University, and at the University of Turin.