Taught in English.

When Dante Alighieri’s Commedia began to circulate in the early 1300s, it was immediately recognized as a literary masterpiece, not only for its unique linguistic beauty, but also because it is an artwork that stretches simultaneously backward and forward in time. The Commedia frames itself as an audacious culmination of classical, biblical, and philosophical traditions, but was written in a crisp vernacular, far surpassing the scope and quality of the few non-Latin works that had begun to emerge in the Middle Ages, making it accessible to a broad audience and ensuring its powerful influence on literature throughout the seven centuries since. Dante’s poem touches on the major political and cultural preoccupations of its day, and yet is an undeniably personal epic—the story of an individual human (middle-aged, exiled from his home) who makes his struggle a universal one by traveling to the afterlife and returning to recount his vision.

The aim of this class will be to leave students with a confident knowledge of the Commedia, a comprehensive understanding of the poem’s many interlaced themes, and a thorough appreciation of its place in literary history. We will read the Inferno and Purgatorio in their entireties, the majority of the Paradiso, and a small number of excerpts from the works that most influenced Dante, as well as a few examples of his shorter works. Grades will be based on lecture attendance, active participation in Friday discussion section, and three essays.

Texts:
Inferno by Dante Alighieri, translated by Allen Mandelbaum (Italian and English)
Publisher: Bantam Classics; Bantam Classic Ed edition (1982)
ISBN-10: 0553213393
ISBN-13: 978-0553213393

Purgatory by Dante Alighieri, translated by Allen Mandelbaum (Italian and English)
Publisher: Bantam Classics (1984)
ISBN-10: 055321344X
ISBN-13: 978-0553213447

Paradise by Dante Alighieri, translated by Allen Mandelbaum (Italian and English)
Publisher: Bantam Classics (1986)
ISBN-10: 0553212044
ISBN-13: 978-0553212044

Order from the Bantam Publishing Website: http://www.modernlibrary.com/library/bantam-classics/
or from Amazon or other online sources.

Prerequisites: None.