Abstract

Abstract:

Alain Chartier's Livre de l'Espérance is widely considered the chef d'oeuvre of his opus, melding the personal, the political, and the spiritual into a catechesis of Christianity. Its debt to Boethius, the Bible, and patristic writings has been analyzed. There may be another source less acknowledged: the Commedia of Dante Alighieri. Is it possible that Chartier was influenced by Dante's work? This essay traces the evidence and possibilities for such a textual encounter. Establishing the influence of Dante on Chartier allows further recognition of the paths by which humanist ideas from Italy entered France during the transitional fifteenth century.

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