Metaphor in Dante by David Gibbons (review)

Abstract

MLRy ioo.i, 2005 229 position in the history of the realism versus idealism debate within Italian linguistics (see in particular pp. 67-69). Language-endangerment issues are as pressing as ever fiftyyears after Terracini's analysis: if?according to figures given by David Crystal in his Language Death (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)?we consider that of approximately 6,000 languages used nowadays, 96 per cent are spoken by just 4 per cent of the world's population, we cannot overlook the urgency of the question. 'What is the Standard?' (Chapter 6) is the question posed by Giulio Lepschy? who also signs the preface to the volume?in his semasiological and onomasiological enquiry into the notion of 'standard', followed by an account of the contemporary Italian situation with particular reference to 'standard', 'spoken Italian', 'popular Ita? lian', and 'the new standard' (pp. 76-78). After two more technical contributions by Delia Bentley and Adam Ledgeway, respectively on 'New Linguistic Research into Italo-Romance Dialects' (Chapter 7) and 'Linguistic Theory and the Mysteries of Italian Dialects' (Chapter 8), it is from the field of sociolinguistics, and in particular lexicography, that Chiara Cirillo offers an analysis of 'Sexism and Gender Issues in the Italian Language' (Chapter 9) and Federico Faloppa on 'Ethnic Diversity in the Everyday Use of Italian' (Chapter 10). Comparing the portrayal of men and women in Italian dictionaries, Cirillo illustrates how on average 50 per cent of the examples given on women provide a stereotypical image drawn from commonplaces such as sexual objectification, attractiveness, weak? ness, or talkativeness, while reserving fields of thinking and studying, working lives, career, power, and prestige to men. It is worth mentioning that positive outcomes in the elimination of sexual discrimination in school handbooks have been obtained in Italy thanks to the adherence of the 'Associazione Italiana Editori' to the different editions ofthe 'Progetto Polite' ('Pari Opportunitanei Libri di TEsto', on which see http://www.aie.it/polite/)started in 1998, and supported by the Directorate-General for Employment and Social Affairs. The last two contributions suitably close the volume with a glance at the multilingual environment of the EU institutions and tackle the problematic issue of transla? tion. The sectional language of law is the focus of Jacqueline Visconti's 'Legal Texts and the Problems of their Translation' (Chapter 11), while Arturo Tosi's 'The Europeanization of the Italian Language by the European Union' (Chapter 12) analyses language status, language policy, multilingual translation, and the legal equivalence of texts, with particular reference to Italian and 'Italian Eurospeak'?all issues which have become more and more pressing afterten new countries entered the EU in May 2004, thus bringing the total number of the officiallanguages of the Union to twenty. For the range of topics examined and the accessibility of the contributions, this volume will be a useful tool forstudents, teachers, and researchers, and in general for anyone interested in the Italian language, while exemplifying the liveliness and high level of research in the field of Italian linguistics in the UK. University of Cambridge Helena Sanson Metaphor in Dante. By David Gibbons. Oxford: Legenda. 2002. xii + 2o6pp. ?35. ISBN 1-900755-63-7. David Gibbons's book is a fascinating and subtle investigation of Dante's dazzling and experimental use of metaphors in the Divine Comedy. The book is divided into three main sections. The firstpart is mainly methodological and attempts to offera programmatic definition of the term 'metaphor'. Here the author distinguishes be? tween metaphor in the strict sense and other figures of speech and sets out to analyse the former in Dante's work. After a brief chapter on metaphor in early ltalian poetry 230 Reviews and in Dante's lyric poems, the central part of the book examines Dante's metapho? rical language in the three cantiche, but focuses primarily on the Paradiso. Gibbons attributes the high incidence of metaphors in the Paradiso to the religious and spiritual nature of its subject matter. Collectinga number of pertinent references, he maintains that Dante renewed traditional Christian metaphors in ways that affect the linguistic and metric structure. Gibbons hypothesizes that to rejuvenate his sources the poet employed three strategies or techniques: the selection...