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Martin Eisner

Professor of Romance Studies
Romance Studies
Box 90257, Durham, NC 27708-0257
205 Language Center, Box 90257, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Martin Eisner is Chair of Romance Studies and Professor of Italian at Duke University. He is the author of  Dante's New Life of the Book: A Philology of World Literature (Oxford UP, 2021), which won the Howard R. Marraro Prize from the Modern Language Association. His first book Boccaccio and the Invention of Italian Literature: Dante, Petrarch, Cavalcanti, and the Authority of the Vernacular (Cambridge UP, 2013) has recently been published in Italian as Boccaccio e l'invenzione della letteratura italiana (Salerno, 2022). He is currently working on a biography of Boccaccio forReaktion Books's Renaissance Lives series. He continues to develop the online research project Dante’s Library. His articles on Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Machiavelli have appeared in PMLA, Renaissance Quarterly, Dante Studies, Mediaevalia,California Italian Studies, Quaderni d’Italianistica, Annali d’Italianistica and Le Tre Corone. His research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the American Academy in Rome, the American Philosophical Association, and the Fulbright Foundation.

Office Hours


To make an appointment, please contact the Assistant to the Chair, Veronique Rowback at veronique.rowback@duke.edu

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor of Romance Studies · 2020 - Present Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Chair of Romance Studies · 2020 - Present Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published January 10, 2023
Why We're Still Reading Dante Seven Centuries Later
Published September 9, 2021
The real scandal of Dante’s Beatrice
Published August 26, 2021
Dante's World Is Bigger Than Hell

View All News

Recent Publications


Dante's New Life of the Book A Philology of World Literature

Book · March 18, 2021 Dante's New Life of the Book examines Dante's Vita nuova through its transformations in manuscripts, printed books, translations, and adaptations. ... Cite

Dante's New Life of the Book A Philology of World Literature

Book · March 2021 Dante's New Life of the Book examines Dante's Vita nuova through its transformations in manuscripts, printed books, translations, and adaptations. ... Cite
View All Publications

Education, Training & Certifications


Columbia University · 2005 Ph.D.
Columbia University · 2002 M.Phil.
Columbia University · 1999 B.A.

External Links


Publications