The anglophone Vita Nova: translators and readers

This chapter sets out the rationale for this volume. Despite some significant studies on the English reception of the Vita Nova, there is no comprehensive book that systematically examines significant and representative translations, drawing on a number of different fields, from Dante Studies and English Studies to Translation Studies and Book History Studies. The chapter presents the structure of the book, which is articulated in three parts, roughly corresponding to the nineteenth century; the first half of the twentieth century; and postwar to the present. It, furthermore, summarizes key issues treated in the 12 chapters of the volume, and contextualizes the English-language translations within global translations of the Vita Nova.