Exile

Abstract

This chapter examines the way the poet represents his exile. It is composed of three parts: the first considers the way Dante handles his exile in relation to authorship, and reveals how he constructs his authority from his position as an exile in the Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia, and his Epistles. The second analyses exile as a major element of the autobiographical dimension of the Commedia. It shows that the necessity to grasp the moral lesson of the exile constitutes the very heart of the poem. The third part explores the relationship between exile and pilgrimage, the latter being, from the Vita Nuova onwards, a symbol of the human condition, and demonstrates how Dante interprets his experience both as an exile and as a wanderer in the other world in the light of pilgrimage.