Allegory and Autobiography

Abstract

This chapter discusses how autobiography is represented schematically in Dante's poem by the synthesis of Platonic allegory with traditional biblical motifs. Dante's descent into Malebolge—and particularly the figure of Geryon, which epitomizes it—is an allegorical motif claiming no existence outside the text. They structure elements of Dante's experience in such a way that an account of his life has at the same time a moral significance for “nostra vita.” The protagonist of the story is at once Dante Alighieri and “whichever man,” meaning not the abstract “everyman” of morality plays, but rather a historical individual, elected by grace. If we were to ask about the “truth” of such an account, in the everyday, biographical sense, the answer would certainly not be found in these allegorical motifs—rope, dragon, abyss—but rather in the existential realities underlying them.