Dante’s emotions: Tears and smiles between time and eternity

Dante’s Emotions: Tears and Smiles between Time and Eternity reveals the centrality of tears and smiles in the development of Dante’s poetics and in his theological reflection, suggesting, for the first time, the paramount role which Dante played within the history of emotions. Starting from the Vita Nuova, this study shows that the representation of tears marks the gradual passage from Dante’s total adherence to the tradition of love poetry to his detachment from it, through the conversion of tears from a manifestation of lovesickness to a fundamental penitential tool for Christian salvation. This process reaches its fulfilment in the Commedia, where tears play a central role in Dante’s journey of expiation, corresponding to a progression from tears to smiles – from sin to bliss – which defines the structure of the poem itself and culminates in Dante’s theology of the smile. Dante scholars will be the main beneficiaries of this study: they will gain insight into the importance played by emotions in Dante’s works and by Dante within the history of emotions, which opens the path to new interpretations of the Commedia and of the Vita Nuova and contributes to a deeper understanding of the author's theological and poetic evolution.