Abstract: In his recently published book, La falsa tenzone di Dante con Forese Donati (1995), Mauro Cursietti challenges Dante's authorship of the comic poetic exchange with Forese, arguing that those six scabrous sonnets were composed much later, perhaps by Stefano Finiguerri, known as il Za, in the 1390s. By making reference to the poetry of il Za, Burchiello, and other poets of the early Quattrocento, Cursietti provides a reading of these sonnets. To wit, he interprets them as having been composed by one author who utilized a codified language which obfuscates its homoerotic nature. In this article, Stefanini assesses the merits of this work, summarizing Cursietti's points. He claims that the relationship of the tenzone to Purgatorio XXIII has been misunderstood by critics. When Dante meets Forese in Purgatory, Stefanini argues, he does not regret this correspondence, but only their friendship spent in vain exploits. The tenzone, rather, was written with this passage in mind, and not vice versa. Moreover, Stefanini agrees that Cursietti has provided the only accurate exegesis of these difficult sonnets through reference to the poets of the early Renaissance. Stefanini's article, therefore, provides a good general overview of Cursietti's objections to the inclusion of the tenzone to Dante's opus.
Abstract from the American Dante Bibliography 1996
Reproduced by courtesy of the Dante Society of America