Original study on the usefulness of the digressivus, one of the modi tractandi in Dante's Commedia, seen as a calculated, challenging, and significant feature of the text. This book shows how well integrated the digressions are into Dante's discourse, both from rhetorical (dispositio and elocutio) and poetical (themes and fabula) points of view. "The subject is most welcome." —Marianne Shapiro, Italica. "Professor Corsi has earned the congratulations of all students of these perennially fascinating texts." —Steven Botterill, Romanische Forschungen.