In his Divine Comedy, Dante transforms his use of the medieval courtly love lyric to produce one of the masterpieces of World literature. The module comprises a study of Dante the pilgrim’s fictitious journey through the regions of the afterlife: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. At the level of the story it will examine the descent into the depths of Hell, the arduous climb up the mountain of Purgatory, the pilgrim’s eventual encounter with his beloved Beatrice and the ensuing journey together through the joys of Paradise. At the level of interpretation, it will examine the two major purposes of the work. The module will thus show how the fears, escapades, suffering and joy undergone by Dante the pilgrim in his meetings with the sinners, penitents and the saved, should be seen as symbolic representations of possible stages of religious, spiritual or psychological growth in the personal life-journey of the individual reader. We will also examine the symbolic presentation of major social, political and religious problems besetting Italian, and particularly Florentine, society, in his day. In this respect the module will examine the reforms Dante the author proposes as solutions to the problems created by the greed and unrestrained hunger for power he sees as characteristic of his age. 

On completion of the module a student will:

• be able to discuss in an informed manner, with individuals from other disciplines, the importance of one of the major works of world literature;
• have acquired an understanding of the importance of Dante for the history of the Italian language and culture;
• have a good understanding of the social and religious background of one of the most important periods in Italian and European history;
• understand the importance of placing a literary text in its historical context;
• know how a single text, especially in the case of literary works, can be read at a variety of levels;
• understand the difference between, and the appropriate use of, symbolic and literal modes of representation.

The module will be delivered through a combination of lectures and discussion. Each session will consist of an analysis and discussion of a particular episode taken from the Divine Comedy. Sometimes the author’s use of a fixed system of allegorical interpretation will be explained; at other times his use of a system of open symbolic presentation will be used to invite students to meet Dante’s reader-response expectation. In the case of the latter approach, students will be expected to argue for and against different interpretations through close textual interpretation and reference.

• The ability to distinguish between, and understand the relationship between, translation and interpretation of a foreign text.
• The ability to detect sub-textual and symbolic messages not contained on the surface of a text.
• The ability to see the differences and similarities between the concerns of one historical period and another.
• The ability to debate and develop an argument in oral discussion.
• The ability to apply analytical and presentational skills in the written presentation of an argument or interpretation of a text.
• The ability to judge when best to use an associative, rather than literal, mode of communication.

The assessment for this module will be by means of an essay of 2000 words chosen from a list of titles, and a two-hour examination, with 50% of the total awarded for each component.

Topics for each session will be chosen from the study units, which can be found in Learning Central/Blackboard. These will consist of selected canti from each of the three sections of the Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. The chosen study units may vary from one year to the next, and will be announced in the lecture programme, also to be found in Learning Central/Blackboard. Each study unit will give details of the canti to be read in advance, along with the questions which should be on the student’s mind when reading the episode. They will be chosen according to the successive stages of Dante the pilgrim’s journey, and designed to stimulate the student’s ingenuity and imagination.

Indicative Reading and Resource List:

A more detailed bibliography for the module will be found in Learning Central/Blackboard

Primary text

A single work by Dante published in three separate volumes by Penguin:

Dante, The Divine Comedy : Inferno, translated by Robin Kirkpatrick, Penguin, 2006

Dante, The Divine Comedy : Purgatorio, Penguin, 2007

Dante, The Divine Comedy : Paradise, Penguin, 2007

This edition is recommended because it is dual text, containing also the original Italian.

Other texts of Dante

Dante, The Divine Comedy, translated by C. H. Sisson, Oxford World’s Classics, 2008.

Dante, The New Life (La Vita Nuova), translated by William Anderson, London: Penguin, 1964.

Dante, The Banquet (Convivio), translated by C. Ryan, California: Saratoga, 1989.

Dante, Monarchy (Monarchia), translated by Prue Shaw, Cambridge: C. U. P., 1996.

 On the Divine Comedy

Barolini, T. and Storey, H. W., Dante for the New Millennium, Fordham University Press, 2003.

Gallagher, J., A modern reader’s guide to Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy’, Triumph, 1999

Jacoff, R. (ed), The Cambridge Companion to Dante, Cambridge: C.U.P., 2009

Scott, J., Understanding Dante, Indiana, University of Notre Dame Press, 2004.

History, Politics, Philosophy and Religion

Abulafia, D. (ed.), Italy in the Central Middle Ages, Oxford: O.U.P., 2004

Holmes, G., Dante, Oxford: O.U.P., 1980

Useful written material for both literary and historical background will also be provided in the Course Documents and Appendices sections of Learning Central/Blackboard.