Dante’s Self-Characterization in the <i>Vita Nova</i>: <i>Auctoritas</i> through Love and Writing

<p>Though Dante Alighieri deems writing of oneself inappropriate in his Convivio, he appears as a protagonist or source of exemplary poetry in almost every one of his works. His Vita Nova can be considered the most self-reflective of these works, since it recounts the personal emotions, thoughts, and events of Alighieri’s youth, as part of and in addition to a commentary on his own poetry. Written as an autobiographical first person narrative, Dante clearly wants his Vita Nova to say something about him as a person, to portray a certain image to his readers, whether accurate or artificial. This thesis examines the images that Dante constructs of himself through his use of the first person in the <em>Vita Nova</em> and the techniques the poet employs to create these images and self-representations.</p>