Dante's Modernity

Claude Lefort, one of the most prominent political philosophers of the twentieth century, reads Dante s Monarchia and demonstrates the surprising relevance of this radical fourteenth-century treatise defending the necessity of a universal monarchy independent from the Church. Written to accompany a new French translation of Dante s treatise in 1993 and appearing here for the first time in English, Lefort s essay exemplifies his signature method of taking political philosophy in new directions by reframing key works from the history of political thought. Dante s Monarchia was attacked early on by the Church, burned as heretical in 1329, and remained on the Vatican s index of prohibited works until 1881. With trenchant insight and his characteristic attention to detail, Lefort pursues the often hidden influence of Dante s long suppressed treatise on the politics and political thought of subsequent centuries. He also challenges us to explore its still unrealized potential by disentangling Dante s notion of universal sovereignty from its historical links to imperialism and nationalism. Drawing out the provocation of Dante s treatise for contemporary debates, Lefort s essay presents readers of Dante with a remarkably fresh account of an oft-neglected yet crucial part of the author s oeuvre.
In her extensive interpretive essay, Judith Revel submits Lefort s encounter with Dante to a transformative mis/reading and shows the importance of Dante s text for Lefort s conception of political philosophy. She carefully reconstructs its radical legacy, all too frequently reduced to a postmarxist turn or even mistaken for an affirmation of liberal democracy.
The two essays are accompanied by a note from their translator, Jennifer Rushworth, and a preface by Christiane Frey.