for himself by declining to follow a clear chronological trajectory. Perhaps he felt licensed by the famous first line of the Inferno: Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita/mi ritrovai per una selva oscura/ché la diritta via era smarrita. (In Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's translation: "Midway upon the journey of our life/I found myself within a forest dark,/For the straightforward pathway had been lost.") In any event, the overall effect of the book is confusing at best and bewildering at worst. The disagreements between Dante and Boniface, the wars between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, the struggle between competing European powers for domination of the Italian landmass, the formative friendships with Giotto and Corso and others, the flavour of his marriage with his "difficult" Gemma: Wilson gives attention to all these things and more, but in a way that heaps one on top of the other, and therefore lacks drama and definition.from Andrew Motion: The Guardian: Dante in Love by A.N. Wilson--review
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