Commentary and Ideology

“Parker provides us with richly textured information on and interpretations of early modern Dante exegesis. . . . No student of sixteenth-century Italian cultural and intellectual history should miss this book.” - William J. Kennedy , Renaissance Quarterly

"Commentary and Ideology makes a timely appearance into the theoretical discussions of today. Parker's work is informed by such theorists as Jauss and Bakhtin and by new developments in bibliographic studies, and this offers a perspective on her material which is both original and truly exciting." - Craig William Kellendorf, Texas A & M University

"Parker's vision is subtle and nuanced, and it offers richly textured insights into the dynamics of reception that take account of received opinion, communities of readership, registers of response, and unconscious as well as conscious interpretative choices. Parker's book stands in a class by itself in the study of Dante reception." - William J. Kennedy, Cornell University

"The vast corpus of medieval commentary on Dante has for far too long been either ignored, misunderstood, marginalised, or read for supposedly significant details, which wrenched from their context, have been made to serve needs of modern editors and critics—needs which are very different from those of the original commentators. It is time that this corpus was seen whole and in its proper historical context. Deborah Parker's book represents a major step in that direction. It should be read not just by Dantists but by anyone with an interest in medieval hermeneutics." - Alastair Minnis, University of York

"This book's shift in focus from criticism itself to the nature of its interpretive legacy has now made possible—perhaps 'necessary' is the better word—whole new lines of scholarly and critical thinking. The book's method, a kind of new philology, represents an important and innovative approach to reading." - Jerome McGann, University of Virginia