Angela Borgia: C.F. Meyer’s 'Göttliche Komodie'

Abstract

The harmonious, almost idyllic ending of C.F. Meyer’s last completed novella Angela Borgia must seem surprising in the context of his prose work as a whole. It is believed to reflect the intensified desire of the ageing and sickly poet to find a small livable ‘paradise’ in this world, based on Christian values. Man’s possible redemption and moral development are shown in the person of Giulio in strong parallel with Dante’s way to heavenly Paradise in the Divine Comedy. The fundamental difference between the two works lies, however, in the fact that the realist Meyer at the end of the 19th Century transfers Dante’s poetic vision of the hereafter not only to this world, but to a large extent to the physical sphere within man himself.