Dante Books

Peter Crow's finely crafted, deftly written narrative recounts, in thier own words, the lives of people in Dante and St. Paul, two small southwest Virginia communities caught in the backwash of history and struggling to maintain an economic and cultural foothold in the post-industrial world. A must-read for anyone interested in modern Appalachia.

I look for a masterpiece and I found one.The work of Dante Ferretti, who has earned a total of six Academy Award nominations in the Art Direction and Costume Design categories. This book is focus of an extensive new exhibition in the Grand Lobby and Fourth Floor Galleries at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "Drawing Dreams" include original production drawings, paintings and designs, costumes, set photographs, scale models, film clips and projections from several of the films on which Ferretti has worked, including all of the films for which he has earned Academy Award nominations in the Art Direction category: "The Adventures of Baron Muchausen" (1989), "Hamlet" (1990), "The Age of Innocence" (1993), "Interview with the Vampire" (1994) and "Kundun" (1997), for which he was nominated for both Art Direction and Costume Design. His work on "And the Ship Sails On," "The Name of the Rose," "Casino," "Meet Joe Black," "Bringing Out the Dead," "Titus" and "Gangs of New York" will also be featured in the exhibition, which was produced in Italy by Cinecittà Holding

I used this test guide along with a text book and passed the test the first time. This book is just the practice tests and answers, so you must use a text to study. This book gave me the practice I needed to know what areas to study. I could not have passsed it without this book. I already have another book to work on my next subject test.

This book will take you to a very healthy pass in the DSST Physical Science exam. It's probably also useful to general Physical Science students outside of the DSST programme. The explanations are to the point, and associated worked examples are similar to the test questions, and very complete. The questions at the back of the book really drum in the main points, and the authors comments telling you to remember this and that really paid off for me. I also used this partly for the Physics and Chemistry parts of my CLEP Natural Science exam! 5 Stars! I heartily recommend it. GL in the exam! :-)

This is a must-have companion book to any serious student of Dante, the Italian Renaissance, or Italy in general.

I am an overseas military dependent and trying to finish my degree within less than 3 years by testing out of classes. I used this book to study for the geology test. It basically allowed me to find my weak areas and then use other geology books to look for information pertinent to the test also the guide on the web site is helpful in studying the material on the test. This book was great I passed the test and used it as a LL biology. You must use other books to enhance your knowledge of the subject, this only contains questions and tests to prepare you for the test!

This remarkable book is composed of six lectures which Santayana read at Columbia University in 1910--lectures based on a regular course he taught at Harvard College. It is extraordinary that there should ever have been university lectures of such outstanding quality. It is doubtful that we have anything to approach it today. As merely a book, "Three Philosophical Poets" is a masterpiece of style and interpretation. The three philosophical poets of the title are Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe, each of whom represents the three main sources of the major speculative systems of Western philosophy. Lucretius, the materialist, is the poet of naturalism; Dante, the Christian and Platonist, is the poet of supernaturalism; and Goethe, the romanticist, is the poet of experience and idealism.

What gives this book its special excellence is Santayana's ability to describe each of the traditions with sympathetic understanding. Although a materialist himself, Santayana does not use the book do advance any specific philosophical agenda. He does not try to score points against the speculative traditions he dislikes (e.g. romanticism, idealism), nor does he make any effort to trump the materialism that he favored or the Catholicism he admired. Instead, he seeks to uncover the special motivations and passions that lead to each tradition, showing how even the most dubious philosophical ideas have a sort of plausibility when one understands how intensely human they are. For example, the supernaturalism of Dante is ultimately an expression of the idea that things are to be understood by their uses or purposes. This, in the final analysis, is what unites Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle with the Christian tradition. The Greek naturalists, on the other hand, had a totally different view. "Nothing arises in the body in order that we may use it," insisted Lucretius, "but what arises brings forth its use." Here we have a discarding of final causes typical not merely of naturalism, but of modern science as well.

There is no better introduction to materialism-naturalism, platonism-Christianity, and romanticism-idealism. Santayana clears up scores of misconceptions which have developed regarding these traditions and shows that no philosophical vision can be entirely just to the totality of human life if it does not take into consideration at least some of the insights peculiar to each of these traditions. It does not speak well for our culture that this beautifully written work should have been allowed to fall out of print.

In Christian experience, one of the central themes recurring over time and in the attendant literature has been sin and redemption. From this book by Kim Paffenroth, 'The Heart Set Free', one sees selected snapshots of this issues from the Gospels (first/second century), Augustine (fourth/fifth century), Dante (thirteen/fourteenth century), and Flannery O'Connor (twentieth century). According to Paffenroth, 'these thinkers offer timeless criticisms of four of the greatest and most flawed societies of all time - Israel, Rome, medieval Europe, and America - and they do so in a way that raises their critiques out f the particular historical context and renders them relevant today.' Paffenroth's method is explained in the preface - each figure is contained in a chapter, with two particular sins highlighted, and two actions that can be redemptive. Then for each, Paffenroth highlights three specific texts and does a directed study including reflection and prayer. This includes both an academic and spiritual element to the writing, in combination in such a way that makes this text useful for classroom, congregational and small group study.

The chapter on the Gospels looks at the sins of revenge and arrogance. These are sins recurrent in today's society, and Paffenroth choses the texts of Matthew 5 (love your enemies), Mark 10 (the request of James and John to sit at Jesus' right and left hand), and Luke 4 (the proclamation of the Acceptable Year of the Lord). Paffenroth draws on various means of textual analysis and spiritual analysis, including interfaith dialogue. For example, the idea of service being an antithesis to arrogance is one that occurs in other religions, too. 'From completely different theologies, Hindus and Christians have both perceived and tried to follow the difficult truth that devoted service is not just the means to salvation; it is also the end or goal of a saved life.'

I first discovered Paffenroth's writing through a companion book on Augustine (one of my special subjects of study), so the chapter on Augustine held particular appeal to me. After a brief biographical sketch, Paffenroth identifies pride and ambition as major sins of concern, both for Augustine and for Rome. The opposites presented here are humility and contemplation. One of the problems of both of these sins, in Augustine's time and our own, is that they are subtle, and often encouraged by the general society. Rome itself was ambitious in the world, and proud of its history. But pride blinds one to sin (Paffenroth excerpts the 'Confessions', book 5 here), and ambitions can trap us and corrode relationships ('Confessions', book 9). The very first paragraph of the 'Confessions' is highlighted as the third text, one in which the proud, ambitious, highly intelligent Augustine humbles himself in contemplative manner toward the will of God - 'our heart is troubled until it rests in you'. (inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te). The world is indeed a restless place, then and now.

The section on Dante looks at appetite (not simply gluttony, according to the traditional list of seven deadly sins, but encompassing a larger range including lust, greed, and others) and malice. Dante provides the images of a hierarchy of sin - despite the scriptural ideas of 'all falling short', we have a natural inclination to think that some sins are in fact worse than others; Dante obviously shared this, by making the punishments in hell worse and worse as things progressed. Dante's view of many of the sins of appetite is that they are in fact so close to not being sins in many respects that they warrant the least punishment. However, sin is a trap - contrasting Dante's view of the sinful (even the minor sinful) Christians versus the non-Christian virtuous, Paffenroth states that 'the sinners are trapped in their individual places, incapable of movement or change' - sin is a prison, a chain, something that, far from adding variety, in fact makes existence more monotonous. Malice, on the other hand, is a more deliberate act, and one that is both uniquely human and uniquely destructive of relationship - hence, loneliness and separation are far more of a torment than fires and cauldrons and smoke (which are still there in Dante, in some abundance). Paffenroth draws on excerpts from the Inferno, the Purgatory, and the Paradise.

Perhaps my favourite chapter in the book is the one dealing with Flannery O'Connor. Upon receiving this book I at once turned to this chapter to see if Paffenroth had included the story of Ruby Turpin (it was there, much to my delight). The sins of self-righteousness and self-deception are brought into focus, and the way these can destroy both oneself and one's relationships in the world are brought into high focus. Self-deception requires revelation, a unique kind of knowledge and insight given by God, to be overcome. Self-righteousness requires grace, something found in abundance if one looks in the right places, but sometimes with an awesome cost. Paffenroth selects 'A Good Man is Hard to Find', 'A Temple of the Holy Ghost', and a third story [the censors won't let past to be listed] for examples of problems with perception and judgement, and a moment of grace.

After each chapter, Paffenroth gives a short annotated bibliography with selected further readings, as well as endnotes; the use of endnotes rather than footnotes gives this more of a 'general' feel rather than an academic format; while the book certainly stands up well to academic standards and the endnotes are very useful, they can also be somewhat distracting for the more general reader.

This is the kind of book I wish I had written. It has motivated me to re-read the primary material again with new insights in mind. This is the kind of book that can stimulate discussion - try to find a friend with whom to read and share.

This book contains essays on Dante, Borges, Rushdie, Leopardi, Sebald, Seth, Verga,Buruma, Svevo, Joyce, Saba,Green ,Buzzati, Neugeboren, Sironi, Montale, Bateson and Ugazio, Stead. The opening essay on Dante's ambivalence while turning from the world and at the same time intending to make himself a central poet of mankind is excellent. I took especial interest in the essay on Borges and his analysis of Borges ' engaged' modesty, the profess of self- effacement .This is Parks on Borges non- fiction his essays. " Again and again he takes on a new subject , marshals his reading his faithful friends of old, gives us fresh ways of seeing things, suggests lucid, often conflicting , frequently bizaare ways of understanding the world.It is astonishing. And though the yearnings are ever the same- the desire to annihilate time, to approach a transcendental perception of life, to grasp an ungraspable truth- Borges never stoops to wishful thinking."pp.33-34
This is an excellent work of practical criticism which without ever forming a comprehensive theory provides insights into diverse writing worlds.

Written by Noble Peace Prize winner and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchu with the assistance Dante Liano and enhanced with full color artwork by Domi, The Honey Jar is an entertaining collection of short stories and encouraging tales drawn from the author's childhood growing up in a Mayan culture. These are tales and stories her grandparents told during her childhood, collected under one cover and offering a new generation of children a special insights into a Native American culture's captivating and imaginative folklore offering explanations of certain natural phenomena, magical twins, the sky, the sun and the moon, animals, plants, and the gods. Especially suitable for school and community library Folklore/Mythology collections for children, The Honey Jar is a very highly recommended read as a high interest for any young reader for its entertaining, imaginative, and vibrant tales, fables, and mysteries.