a lecture by John Barnes
This lecture will first consider Dante’s views on war as a principle and then move on to his direct experience of warfare. Its main purpose,
however, will be to explore ways in which those views and that
experience are reflected in his literary works, particularly in the
imagery of the Commedia.Prior to his retirement John Barnes
was for a quarter of a century the Professor of Italian in University
College Dublin. The principal area of his work has always been medieval
Florentine literature, especially historiography and the writings of
Dante. He has co-edited a number of collections of essays on the latter,
to be followed in the near future by War and Peace in Dante and Dante and the Seven Deadly Sins.
He has also worked on certain twentieth-century Italian authors,
particularly Pirandello, and has for many years been the President of
the Society for Pirandello Studies.