Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Helmut Hatzfeld

Critical Essay by Helmut Hatzfeld

SOURCE: “The Art of Dante's Purgatorio,” American Critical Essays on The Divine Comedy, edited by Robert J. Clements, New York University Press, 1967, pp. 64-88.

In the following essay, originally published in 1952, Hatzfeld contends that Dante's esthetic choices are easier to understand when his style is viewed as one of magic realism.

Il mito non è favola, ma … “storia vera.”                     raffaele pettazzoni Not merely a story told, but a reality lived.                     b. malinowski

1. Introduction

The considerable amount of critical literature on Dante's Divine Comedy contains very few items which concern esthetical, structural, and stylistic problems. The Purgatorio is the most neglected and allegedly the most debatable part of the three Canticles of the Commedia. Consequently, what we need most of all in Dante criticism is an artistic, accurate analysis and appreciation of the Purgatorio. Certain random remarks on Dante's poetics in recent commented editions, particularly that of Momigliano...
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