24-Lecture Course: Dante in Translation (ITAL 310)

August 1, 2010 · 0 comments

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Dante is an Italian poet, known as the “Father of the Italian language.” Dante is the author of the Divine Comedy, as well as many other works, such as Vita nuova, Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia, and Epistle to Cangrande. These works are all critically analyzed as part of Yale Professor Giuseppe Mazzotta’s course, Dante in Translation.

Professor Giuseppe Mazzotta is a Professor of Humanities for Italian at Yale University. His focus is on medieval as well as Italian literature.

He discusses Dante’s work in relevance to its intellectual and social value during the Middle Ages, in addition to political, philosophical and theological concerns.

Click on any image below to watch a lecture…

1. Introduction (#1)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta introduces students to the general scheme and scope of the Divine Comedy and to the life of its author. Various genres to which the poem belongs (romance, epic, vision) are indicated, and special attention is given to its place within the encyclopedic tradition. The poem is then situated historically through an overview of Dante's early poetic and political careers and the circumstances that led to his exile. Professor Mazzotta concludes by dis...

2. Vita Nuova (#2)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture is devoted to the Vita nuova, Dante's autobiographical account of his "double apprenticeship" in poetry and love. The poet's love for Beatrice is explored as the catalyst for his search for a new poetic voice. Medieval theories of love and the diverse poetics they inspired are discussed in contrast. The novelty of the poet's final resolution is tied to the relationship he discovers between love and knowledge. This relationship is then placed in its l...

3. Inferno I, II, III, IV (#3)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta introduces students to the Divine Comedy, focusing on the first four cantos of Inferno. Stylistic, thematic and formal features of the poem are discussed in the context of its original title, Comedy. The first canto is read to establish the double voice of the poet-pilgrim and to contrast the immanent journey with those described by Dante's literary precursors. Among these is the pilgrim's guide, Virgil. The following cantos are read with speci...

4. Inferno V, VI, VII (#4)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture examines Inferno IV -VII. Dante's Limbo, modeled on the classical locus amoenus, is identified as a place of repose and vulnerability. Here, in fact, among the poets of antiquity, the pilgrim falls prey to poetic hubris by joining in their ranks. The pilgrim is faced with the consequences of his poetic vocation when he descends to the circle of lust (Inferno V), where Francesca da Rimini, in her failure to distinguish romance from reality, testifies...

6. Inferno XII, XIII, XV, XVI (#5)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture focuses on the middle zone of Inferno, the area of violence (Inferno XII-XVI). Introductory remarks are made on the concentration of hybrid creatures in this area of Hell and followed by a close reading of cantos XIII and XV. The pilgrim's encounter with Pier delle Vigne (Inferno XIII) is placed in literary context (Aeneid III). The questioning of authority staged in this scene resurfaces in the circle of sodomy (Inferno XV), where the pilgrim's enco...

7. Inferno XIX, XXI, XXV, XXVI (#6)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture deals primarily with Cantos XIX and XXVI of Inferno. Simony, the sin punished in Inferno XIX, is situated historically to point out the contiguity of the sacred and the profane and its relevance to the prophetic voice Dante established in this canto. The fine line between prophecy and profanation is shown to resurface in Inferno XXIV and XXV, where the poet falls prey, as did the pilgrim in Inferno IV, to poetic hubris. Once again, the dangers of Dan...

8. Inferno XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII (#7)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta begins this lecture by recapitulating the ambivalent nature of Ulysses' sin and its relevance to Dante's poetic project. Inferno XXVII is then read in conjunction with the preceding canto. The antithetical relationship between Dante's false counselors, Ulysses and Guido da Montefeltro, anchors an overarching discussion of the relationship between rhetoric and politics. The latter half of the lecture is devoted to Inferno XXVIII, where Dante's p...

9. Inferno XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV (#8)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) The final cantos of Inferno are read with a view to the role of the tragic within Dante's Comedy. Using Dante's discussion of tragedy in the De vulgari eloquentia as a point of departure, Professor Mazzotta traces the disintegration of language that accompanies the pilgrim's descent into the pit of Hell, the zone of treachery, from the distorted speech of Nimrod in Inferno XXXI to the silence of Satan in Inferno XXXIV. The ultimate triumph of comedy over tragedy ...

10. Purgatory I, II (#9)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) In this lecture, Professor Mazzotta introduces Purgatory and proceeds with a close reading of Cantos I and II. The topography of Mount Purgatory is described, and the moral system it structures is contrasted with that of Hell. Dante's paradoxical choice of Cato, a pagan suicide, as guardian to the entrance of Purgatory ushers in a discussion of freedom from the standpoint of classical antiquity, on the one hand, and Judaism, on the other. In his refusal to be ens...

11. Purgatory V, VI, IX, X (#10)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture covers Purgatory V, VI, IX and X. The purgatorial theme of freedom introduced in the previous lecture is revisited in the context of Canto V, where Buonconte da Montefeltro's appearance among the last minute penitents is read as a critique of the genealogical bonds of natural necessity. The poet passes from natural to civic ancestry in Purgatory VI, where the mutual affection of Virgil and Sordello, a former citizen of the classical poet's native Man...

12. Purgatory X, XI, XII, XVI, XVII (#11)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) In this lecture, Professor Mazzotta moves from the terrace of pride (Purgatory X-XII) to the terrace of wrath (Purgatory XVI-XVII). The relationship between art and pride, introduced in the previous lecture in the context of Canto X, is pursued along theological lines in the cantos immediately following. The "ludic theology" Dante embraces in these cantos resurfaces on the terrace of wrath, where Marco Lombardo's speech on the traditional problem of divine forekn...

13. Purgatory XIX, XXI, XXII (#12)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture deals primarily with Purgatory XIX, XXI and XXII. The ambiguity of the imagination discussed in the preceding lecture as the selfsame path to intellectual discovery and disengagement is explored in expressly poetic terms. While the pilgrim's dream of the siren in Purgatory XIX warns of the death-dealing power of aesthetics, the encounter between Statius and Virgil in the cantos that follow points to its life-giving potential by casting poetry as a me...

14. Purgatory XXIV, XXV, XXVI (#13)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Guest lecturer Professor David Lummus discusses Purgatory XXIV-XXVI. On the terraces of gluttony and lust, the pilgrim's encounters with masters of the Italian love lyric give rise to the Comedy's most sustained treatment of poetics. Through Dante's older contemporary Bonagiunta (Purgatory XXIV), the pilgrim distinguishes the poetic style of his youth from that of the courtly love tradition pursued by his interlocutor. In Purgatory XXVI, Dante reinforces his own ...

15. Purgatory XXX, XXXI, XXXIII (#14)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture deals with Dante's representation of the Earthly Paradise at the summit of Mount Purgatory. The quest for freedom begun under the aegis of Cato in Purgatory I reaches its denouement at the threshold of Eden, where Virgil proclaims the freedom of the pilgrim's will (Purgatory XXVII). Left with pleasure as his guide, the pilgrim nevertheless falls short of a second Adam in his encounter with Matelda. His lingering susceptibility to earthly delights is ...

16. Paradise I, II (#15)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta introduces students to Paradise. The Ptolemaic structure of Dante's cosmos is described along with the arts and sciences associated with its spheres. Beatrice's role as teacher in Dante's cosmological journey is distinguished from that of her successor, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. An introduction to Dante's third and final guide to the Beatific Vision helps situate the poetics of Paradise vis-à-vis the mystical tradition. Professor Mazzotta's in...

17. Paradise IV, VI, X (#16)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture deals with Paradise IV, VI and X. At the beginning of Paradise IV, the pilgrim raises two questions to which the remainder of the canto is devoted. The first concerns Piccarda (Paradise III) who was constrained to break her religious vows. The second concerns the arrangement of the souls within the stars. The common thread that emerges from Beatrice's reply is the relationship between intellect and will. Just as Piccarda's fate reveals the limitation...

18. Paradise XI, XII (#17)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta continues his discussion of the Heaven of the Sun (Paradise X-IV), where the earthly disputes between the Franciscan and Dominican orders give way to mutual praise. The tribute St. Thomas pays to the founder of the Franciscan order (Paradise XI) is repaid by St. Bonaventure through his homage to St. Dominic (Paradise XII). The chiasmic structure of these cantos is reinforced by the presence of Nathan and Joachim of Flora, the counterweights to ...

19. Paradise XV, XVI, XVII (#18)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture focuses on the cantos of Cacciaguida (Paradise XV-XVII). The pilgrim's encounter with his great-great grandfather brings to the fore the relationship between history, self and exile. Through his ancestor's mythology of their native Florence, Dante is shown to move from one historiographic mode to another, from the grandeur of epic to the localism of medieval chronicles. Underlying both is the understanding of history in terms of genealogy reinforced ...

20. Paradise XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII (#19)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) In this lecture, Professor Mazzotta examines Paradise XVIII-XIX and XXI-XXII. In Paradise XVIII, Dante enters the Heaven of Jupiter, where the souls of righteous rulers assume the form of an eagle, the emblem of the Roman Empire. The Eagle's outcry against the wickedness of Christian kings leads Dante to probe the boundaries of divine justice by looking beyond the confines of Christian Europe. By contrasting the political with the moral boundaries that distinguis...

21. Paradise XXIV, XXV, XXVI (#20)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture covers Paradise XXIV-XXVI. In the Heaven of the Fixed Stars, Dante is examined on the three theological virtues by the apostles associated with each: St. Peter with faith (Paradise XXIV), St. James with hope (Paradise XXV), and St. John with love (Paradise XXVI). While mastering these virtues is irrelevant to the elect, it is crucial to the message of reform the pilgrim-turned-poet will relay on his return home. Dante's scholastic profession of faith...

22. Paradise XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX (#21)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture focuses on Paradise XXVII-XXIX. St. Peter's invective against the papacy from the Heaven of the Fixed Stars is juxtaposed with Dante's portrayal of its contemporary incumbent, Boniface VIII, in the corresponding canto of Inferno. Recalls of infernal characters proliferate as the pilgrim ascends with Beatrice into the primum mobile. Bid to look back on the world below, Dante perceives the mad track of his uneasy archetype, Ulysses. Dante's remembrance...

23. Paradise XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII (#22)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta lectures on the final cantos of Paradise (XXX-XXXIII). The pilgrim's journey through the physical world comes to an end with his ascent into the Empyrean, a heaven of pure light beyond time and space. Beatrice welcomes Dante into the Heavenly Jerusalem, where the elect are assembled in a celestial rose. By describing the Empyrean as both a garden and a city, Dante recalls the poles of his own pilgrimage while dissolving the classical divide bet...

24. General Review (#23)

- Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) The last class of the semester consists of a brief recapitulation of topics in the Divine Comedy addressed throughout the course, followed by an extensive question and answer session with the students. The questions posed allow Professor Mazzotta to elaborate on issues raised over the course of the semester, from Dante's place within the medieval love tradition to the relationship between his roles as poet and theologian. 00:00 - Chapter 1. Distinctive Theologic...

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24-Lecture Course: Dante in Translation (ITAL 310)

1. Introduction (#1)

2. Vita Nuova (#2)

3. Inferno I, II, III, IV (#3)

4. Inferno V, VI, VII (#4)

6. Inferno XII, XIII, XV, XVI (#5)

7. Inferno XIX, XXI, XXV, XXVI (#6)

8. Inferno XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII (#7)

9. Inferno XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV (#8)

10. Purgatory I, II (#9)

11. Purgatory V, VI, IX, X (#10)

12. Purgatory X, XI, XII, XVI, XVII (#11)

13. Purgatory XIX, XXI, XXII (#12)

14. Purgatory XXIV, XXV, XXVI (#13)

15. Purgatory XXX, XXXI, XXXIII (#14)

16. Paradise I, II (#15)

17. Paradise IV, VI, X (#16)

18. Paradise XI, XII (#17)

19. Paradise XV, XVI, XVII (#18)

20. Paradise XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII (#19)

21. Paradise XXIV, XXV, XXVI (#20)

22. Paradise XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX (#21)

23. Paradise XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII (#22)

24. General Review (#23)

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