SOURCE: "Vita Nuova: Dante's Perceptions of Beatrice (1974)," in Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, Vol. 23, 1983, pp. 372-89.

Hollander examines Dante's use of vedere and various terms related to seeing to reach a better understanding of the final vision of Beatrice in heaven, which the Vita Nuova refers to but withholds from the reader.

If one were asked to guess how many times Beatrice appears to Dante in the Vita Nuova one might, in view of Dante's fondness for the number, very well guess nine times. Since that is probably the correct answer it is at least a little surprising that no dantista—at least none known to this writer—has even made any effective attempt at a count. There are various objects of various kinds of "seeing" in the Vita Nuova, as will be described below. This discussion will be dominantly concerned with the appearances of Beatrice. An "appearance of...