Seeking to provide a reading of Dante's Paradiso that will have relevance for modern readers, Saly investigates the anagogical meaning of the third canticle, the level of interpretation he understands as the "deepest, most personal, yet at the same time the most generally true for most people." He reads and interprets the poem, then, within the general framework of depth psychology for the paradigm it presents of a journey toward "Self-actualization," toward the "unity of the self" and the "attainment of perfect selfhood." Each chapter treats a separate heavenly sphere and is divided into two parts, one less and the other more text-oriented: the first presents the author's "psychological" reading and explanation of the text, and the second comments on the nature and significance of the imagery Dante employs in this section of the poem. Although this book is not directed toward Dante scholars, it can be read with profit by persons interested in investigating the complex interplay of psychology and spirituality and in discovering how a medieval man's struggle for knowledge and self-understanding can have meaning in the modern world. In many ways, as Saly notes, Dante's Paradiso is "a prophetic book about the future of humanity."

John Saly is Professor Emeritus in residence at Pace University and the author of Prophets of a New Age in Modern Literature (1980). A former announcer and translator for the BBC, he has contributed to many scholarly journals, including The Hofstra Review and Keats-Shelley Journal. Dr. Saly received his Ph. D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University in 1960. He is the recipient of a fellowship in academic adninistration from administration from the Ford Foundation, and his poems have apperaed in The Atlantic Monthly, International PEN Anthology, and Arena.