Age of Dante

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

The "Age of Dante" is primarily a readings and discussion course, with some lectures. The central text for the course is Dante's encyclopedic Divine Comedy, which anchors discussions of Dante's other works and his literary, political, ecclesiastical, and philosophical context. At thematically appropriate moments the course discusses Dante’s earlier works, his use of scripture and of classical texts, the writings of his poetic forebears and contemporaries, and contemporary chroniclers who describe the turbulence of late thirteenth- century Florence. Some of the central themes in the course will be Dante's love of Beatrice, his love/hate relationship with the city of Florence, the impact of his exile, his views on the papacy and the empire, his radical re-envisioning of the Christian afterlife, and the choice of personages he encounters on his journey through hell, purgatory and paradise, particularly his strange choice of a pagan guide (Virgil) through hell and purgatory. The course will also discuss the impact of Dante's work, as well as scholarly responses to it. Credits: 3 Prerequisites: None