On Amista: Negotiating Friendship in Dante's Italy

On Amistà explores the social and ethical dilemmas of friendship in late medieval Christian society, showing how Dante strategically articulated friendship across his literary career. It reveals that friendship was not a moral good but an ambiguous term that described a wide range of social relationships. Coggeshall examines how writers skillfully negotiated around the dilemmas that friendship raised in the spheres of medieval Italian literary society, addressing inclusivity and exclusivity, collaboration and self-interest, hierarchy and equality, and alterity and identity.

Format: Hardback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 17 March 2023
Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Although friendship is often seen as a fundamental aspect of human social life today, it posed numerous social and ethical dilemmas during late medieval Christian society. These dilemmas were carefully negotiated by thinkers and writers, and Amistà explores these challenges through the lens of Dante's strategic articulations of friendship. Elizabeth Coggeshall reveals that friendship was not a straightforward moral good for the writers of late medieval Italy but rather a complex term that encompassed various social relationships, including allies, collaborators, servants, patrons, rivals, and enemies. By analyzing the language of friendship in Dante's letters, correspondence poems, dedications, narratives, and treatises, Coggeshall examines how they skillfully navigated the dilemmas that friendship presented in the literary society of medieval Italy. The book highlights instances of inclusivity and exclusivity, collaboration and self-interest, hierarchy and equality, and alterity and identity. Through literary, historical, and sociological analysis, On Amistà traces the innovative and tactical use of friendship terms among the works of late medieval Italian authors.

Weight: 440g
Dimension: 234 x 157 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781487548179