THE IMAGE OF AUTHORSHIP IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE VITA NUOVA

Abstract

With the final chapter (XLII) of the VITA NUOVA, Dante ends his libello in a distinctively forward-looking mode. As the chapter opens, he has had a ‘miraculous vision’, and has decided not to speak of Beatrice until he is able to do so more ‘worthily’. He closes with the hope that this goal will be achieved with a future work: ‘io spero di dicer di lei quello che mai non fue detto d'alcuna.’ Historically, this reference to an indefinite future work has limited critical discussion of chapter XLII — ‘quello che mai non fue detto d'alcuna’ is seen as a prophecy of the Commedia, the chapter is labelled as a link to the poema sacro and nothing more. The evidence of this perspective can be found in the notes of most modern editions of the VITA NUOVA: in Musa's translation, ‘quello che mai non fue detto d'alcuna’ is explained as ‘i.e. the Divine Comedy’, and the actual rhetoric of the chapter is disregarded.