Virgil the Blind Guide examines the repetition of certain linguistic configurations that have remained hidden because the meanings of the words involved do not relate to Virgil’s competence as guide. Uncovering tropes that have yet to be studied, Howard allows us to see new junctures in the poet’s travels, while highlighting Virgil’s impotence and diminishing his authority as regards other poets, guides, and the demons of Hell’s lower gate. The concealed route revealed by Dante’s figurative signposts establishes Virgil’s traits as foundational to the poem and allows for new perspectives and understandings of this critical character. Using this distinctive strategy, Virgil the Blind Guide helps us to piece together the complex puzzle that is Dante’s pagan guide and suggests new ways of understanding important characters that are applicable to a broad range of poetry and prose.

Lloyd H. Howard is professor of Italian in the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies at the University of Victoria.

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"Howard's attention to detail and his deft appreciation of linguistic formulas return the reader's attention to the power of Dante's poetry, and this in itself represents a powerful scholarly achievement. Arguments about the interpretation of classical poeti in the context of Dante's work might never be resolved, but Howard should certainly be ranked among the right readers of Dante's poetry." Renaissance Quarterly
"Previous scholarship has never quite fully explored the issue of Virgil's authority in all its implications, as this study does. It is not only original in its principal idea and execution, but also an advance in Dante scholarship and in the way we understand the very important figure of Virgil." Massimo Verdicchio, Professor of Italian Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Alberta
"By focusing on the Virgilian "thread" Howard provides some plausible new ways of considering how the poem is permeated by Dante's great literary model and guide ... he leads the reader to consider once more the phenomenal control of detail that marks the great poem. Summing Up: Recommended." R. West, University of Chicago