Dante's Divine Comedy (LBST 523)
Summer 2013
In this course we will study Dante Alighieri’s fourteenth-century masterpiece The Divine Comedy, seeking to understand this ambitious poem both on its own merits and as an index of the major literary, artistic, and intellectual currents of European culture during the High Middle Ages. The Divine Comedy as a whole narrates Dante’s fictional journey through the afterlife, where he witnesses the eternal torments of the damned souls in Hell, the patient endurance of the restless Christian spirits in Purgatory, and the ineffable delights of the blessed in Paradise. As we follow Dante-pilgrim on his journey, we will look specifically at the poetic and narrative strategies that Dante-poet employs in thinking through the changing relationships between language and truth in the separate canticles of the poem, thinking about how an infernal poetics, for example, differs from a paradisiacal one. In light of ongoing debates in Dante studies, we will also focus on the extent to which Dante’s poem enjoins readers to a process of conversion and on the ways in which Dante establishes his own poetic and moral authority as a counterweight to the corruptions of the fourteenth-century Church.
Readings will be from the English translation by Robert and Jean Hollander, with the Italian text of Dante’s poem on the facing page.
Readings will be from the English translation by Robert and Jean Hollander, with the Italian text of Dante’s poem on the facing page.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Week One (June 17) · Inferno 1-3 · Excerpts from Dante’s Vita Nuova (handout) · “In Exitu Israel de Aegypto” by Charles Singleton (JSTOR) · “Why Did Dante Write the Commedia?” by Teodolinda Barolini (JSTOR) · "Life of Dante" by Giuseppe Mazzotta in The Cambridge Companion (on reserve) Week Two (June 24) · Inferno 4-19 · Virgil, Aeneid VI (recommended – any translation) · Tundale’s Vision · “Farinata and Cavalcanti” by Erich Auerbach (JSTOR) Week Three (July 1) · Inferno 20-34 · Augustine, excerpts from The Confessions (handout) · “Inferno XXXIII, 37-74: Ugolino’s Importunity” by Robert Hollander (JSTOR) DUE: “Lectura Dantis” (short, short essay, 2-3 pages) Week Four (July 8) · Purgatorio 1-17 · Excerpts from Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (handout) · "Introduction to Purgatorio" by Jeffrey Schnapp in The Cambridge Companion (on reserve) · "Orientation" by Alison Cornish in Reading Dante’s Stars (on reserve) Week Five (July 15) · Purgatorio 18-33 · Excerpts from medieval love poets (Giraut de Bornelh, Arnaut Daniel, Guido Guinizzelli, etc.) · “Dante’s 'DXV' and 'Veltro'” by R. E. Kaske (JSTOR), pp. 185-198 only. · “Beatrice’s Dante: Loving the Individual?” by Martha Nussbaum (JSTOR) DUE: Lectura Dantis (short, short essay) Week Six (July 22) · Paradiso 1-17 · Pseudo-Dionysius, The Mystical Theology (handout) · “Introduction to Paradiso” by Rachel Jacoff in The Cambridge Companion (on reserve) · “Paradiso X: The Dance of the Stars” by John Freccero (JSTOR) Week Seven (July 29) · Paradiso 18-33 · Epistle to Can Grande (handout) · Excerpt from Bernard of Clairvaux's Commentary on the Song of Songs · “All Smiles: Poetry and Theology in Dante” by Peter S. Hawkins (JSTOR) · "The Sufficient Example" by Alison Cornish in Reading Dante’s Stars (on reserve) DUE: Lectura Dantis (short, short essay) DUE by August (precise date TBA): Final Course Paper (20-ish pp.) Course Requirements Active Participation: A Reed MALS seminar should foster discussions that are both civil and critical. The responsibility for making this happen is incumbent upon each one of us, and for that reason I want to hear from everyone on a regular basis. If there are impediments to your regular participation, please see me so that we can make other arrangements. Three “Lecturae Dantis”: A lectura Dantis is a long scholarly tradition within Dante studies, consisting of a brief essay(2-3 pages) that elucidates some otherwise puzzling or contradictory aspect of a particular passage or section. The lectura Dantis requires focus: usually it will hone in on a short passage or a single image and then relate that passage or image to the meaning of that particular canto (or subsection of the afterlife) as a whole. Preparing a lectura Dantis will require exploring notes, sources, analogues, The Dante Encyclopedia, etc., and it should also give you the opportunity to show off your skills at close textual analysis. Research Paper: twenty-ish pages, details to be announced. |
Required Texts
The Inferno, trans. Robert and Jean Hollander Purgatorio, trans. Robert and Jean Hollander Paradiso, trans. Robert and Jean Hollander The Complete Danteworlds by Guy Raffa On reserve: The Cambridge Companion to Dante, ed. Rachel Jacoff And follow this link to a useful Dante bibliography. |