Dante and Islam Through the Eyes of Literary Criticism

Works of one of the most significant medieval poets, Dante Alighieri, have long been a subject of study, and many studies address translating and scholarly commenting on the works into the native language. Examples include translations of parts of The Divine Comedy—Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise—into Slovak from the 20th century, by prominent Slovak literary scholars Viliam Turčány and Jozef Felix. Many literary critics deal with the philosophy of the works, various foreign influences, or source inspirations in his writing that follow from ideas of the period. Examples are the well-known studies of literary critics such as Miguel Asín Palacios, Maria Corti, Giuseppe Gabrieli, and others. The aim of the paper is to highlight the relationship between Arab culture and philosophy and Dante from the perspective of literary criticism. The paper synthetically presents the literary viewpoints of critics and scholars who focus on the influence of Oriental culture, literature, and philosophy on the author's creative work.