ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

TO WRITE THIS BOOK, I’ve used many editions and commentaries of Dante’s Commedia. The best Italian edition in my view is the one by Anna Maria Chiavacci Leonardi, first published by Mondadori in 1994. In English, the version that to my taste comes closest to the music and power of the original is that of W. S. Merwin, who unfortunately translated only the Purgatorio and two cantos of the Inferno because he said he didn’t like Saint Bernard and did not wish to suffer his company throughout much of the Paradiso. Other than Dante, duca, signore e maestro, I notice that several other writers have led me through these pages: Plato, Augustine, Aquinas, Montaigne, Hume, and the secret authors of the Talmud seem to be more present in this book than in all my previous ones, whose presiding deities were Lewis Carroll, Flaubert, Cervantes, and Borges.

Several of my editors have faithfully helped me with their comments and corrections. Among them, Hans-Jürgen Balmes, Valeria Ciompi, John Donatich, Luiz Schwarcz, and Marie-Catherine Vacher: to them my deepest thanks. Also to Fabio Muzi Falconi, Françoise Nyssen, Guillermo Quijas, Arturo Ramoneda, Javier Setó, and Güven Turan for their trust in a book that, for the longest time, consisted simply of a one-word title. And to Lise Bergevin, for her constancy, friendship, and generosity.

My deepest thanks to the book designer, Sonia Shannon, to the picture researcher, Danielle D’Orlando, to the indexer, Alexa Selph, and the proofreader, Jack Borrebach, and to the eagle-eyed Susan Laity, whose meticulous copyediting pointed out my errori falsi.

My deepest gratitude, as always, to my old friend and agent Guillermo Schavelzon, from the days when our conversations were not about illnesses. And also to Bárbara Graham, for all her efforts on my behalf.

A number of other friends helped with support and information: Professor Shaul Bassi, Professor Lina Bolzoni, Father Lucien-Jean Bord, Professors José and Lucio Burucúa, Professor Ethel Groffier, Professor Tariq S. Khawaji, Piero Lo Strologo, Dr. José Luis Moure, Lucie Pabel, Gottwalt Pankow, Ileene Smith (with whom the project was first discussed and who encouraged me to pursue it), Dr. Jillian Tomm, Dr. Khalid S. Yahya, and Marta Zocchi.

I was greatly assisted by a few vastly efficient librarians, especially Donatino Domini, director of the Biblioteca Classense in Ravenna; Patricia Jaunet of the Bibliothèques départementales de la Vienne; Arthur Kiron, director of the Jewish Institute Collections of the University of Pennsylvania; and Guy Penman, Amanda Corp, and Emma Wigham at the London Library. They justify the definition that, according to Diodorus Siculus, was inscribed above the door of the ancient Egyptian libraries: “Clinic of the Soul.” Thanks also to C. Jay Irwin for his help in the first stages of the project.

A few pages of this book, in various early forms, were published in Descant, Geist, the New York Times, Parnassus, La Repubblica, the Threepenny Review, and Théodore Balmoral. To Thierry Bouchard, Kyle Jarrard, Herbert Leibowitz, Wendy Lesser, Karen Mulhallen, Stephen Osborne, and Dario Pappalardo many thanks.

Dante believed that during our voyage through life, if grace allows, we’ll find a fellow soul to assist us on our way beyond the dark wood, to reflect back our questions and to help us discover whatever it is we are meant to be; above all, one whose love keeps us alive. To Craig, dolce guida e cara, as ever.

Alberto Manguel
MONDION, 5 MAY 2014