The Passionate Intellect

Dorothy L. Sayers, detective novelist, poet, scholar, playwright, and Christian apologist, spent the last fourteen years of her life reading and translating Dante's 'Divine Comedy'. The first two volumes of her translation, 'Hell' and 'Purgatory', were published during her lifetime, but when she died in 1957 the third volume, 'Paradise', was unfinished. It was completed by her friend Barbara Reynolds.

Thirty years later Barbara Reynolds wrote this book, the first full-length study of this illuminating stage in the creative life of Dorothy Sayers. Drawing on personal reminiscences and unpublished letters, she tells a moving and compelling story. The work explores the dynamic impact of Dante upon a mature mind. New light is shed on Dorothy Sayers' personality, her relationship with her friends, her methods of work, and her intellectual and spiritual development. Readers of Dante, no less than readers of Sayers, will find this an exciting book.

Dr. Reynolds has not told us merely about Sayers' Dante translations and lectures; she has told us about Sayers' radio broadcasts on Dante, her proposed Dante novel, her carefully planned study on the Beatrician vision; and she has discussed the part Charles Williams played in guiding Sayers in her Dante study. This book observes a brilliant mind meeting a Great Poet and becoming continuously awed, inspired, and energized by his verse and vision.

Ralph E. Hone

Barbara Reynolds is an Italian scholar and translator, known for her completion of Dorothy L. Sayers' translation of Dante's 'Divine Comedy' for Penguin Classics. She has also translated Dante's 'La Vita Nuova' of which a new edition has recently been issued. Her translation of Ariosto's 'Orlando Furioso', also for Penguin Classics, was distinguished by an international award.

She is also the author of a highly acclaimed biography, 'Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul' and is the editor of 'The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers' in four volumes, plus a supplementary volume of childhood memoirs. She has told the story of Sayers' commitment to Dante in 'The Passionate Intellect', now in its second edition.

The general editor of 'The Cambridge Italian Dictionary', she has been honored by the Italian Republic for her services to Italian studies. She also holds three honorary doctorates. She is now residing in Cambridge, England.