Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

“The Fractal Consciousness of Dante’s Divine Comedy”, Essay by Mark Vernon (2021)

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“Dante Alighieri was early in recognizing that our age has a problem. He was the first writer to use the word moderno, in Italian, and the difficulty he spotted with the modern mind is its limited capacity to relate to the whole of reality, particularly the spiritual aspects. This might sound surprising, given that his masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, is often described as one of the most brilliant creations of the medieval imagination. It is taken to be a genius expression of a discarded worldview, not the modern one, from an era in which everything was taken to be connected to the supreme reality called God. But Dante was born in a time of troubling transition. He realized that this cosmic vision was being challenged, and he didn’t seek to reject it or restore it, but to remake it.

“This brings us to the heart of why Dante still matters today. He stresses ways of knowing about life based on experiencing and undergoing, as opposed to studying or inspecting. They bring an understanding that isn’t about accumulating information and sorting data but trusting feeling and following insights.

“The vision is tremendous and simple and is a gloriously articulated reflection on everyday human consciousness. We are aware and can be aware of being aware. And this is Dante’s message for now: in a way, all we have to do to rediscover the essence of our intelligence, and the capacity to relate to the whole of reality – particularly in its spiritual aspects – is turn towards our felt experience, and examine what we find. There is presence and freedom, intention and imagination, truth in stories and transformations of time. To grow in this sense is to get better at being alive.”[. . .]    –Mark Vernon, Aeon, July 20, 2021 (retrieved April 11, 2022)

Read the full text of psychotherapist and writer Mark Vernon’s essay here.

See our other post relating to Mark Vernon and his work here.

“Gaming the Divine Comedy: A History”, Talk by Andrea Angiolino (2021)

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On June 9, 2021, the University of Edinburgh’s History and Games Lab YouTube channel posted a video entitled “Gaming the Divine Comedy: A History”. The talk, given by game designer Andrea Angiolino, “explores how the Divine Comedy has been gamified and will compare it to other literary works.”

Watch the full, recorded lecture here.

“Riflessioni semiserie da dantedì ovvero la lezione di Beatrice”, Antonella Valoroso (2021)

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antonella_valoroso_article_painting“Mentre tramonta il sole sul dantedì2021, in quella che per Dante è ‘’l’ora che volge il disìo’, mi viene in mente che, nonostante il mio ininterrotto amore per il divino poeta, non ho mai provato a pensare a Dante in una prospettiva femminista. Ed ecco che TRE riflessioni si accavallano e si intrecciano l’una all’altra, proprio come i versi delle terzine della Commedia.

“Riflessione numero uno, ispirata dalle illustrazioni dell’Inferno di Gustave Doré. Riflessione numero due, ispirata dal dipinto ‘Francesca di Rimini nell’inferno dantesco’ di Nicola Monti, recentemente acquisito dalla Galleria degli Uffizi. Riflessione numero tre, ispirata dai versi 7-12 del XVII canto del Paradiso.

“Buon dantedì (e e ogni altro giorno) a tutte le donne e a tutti gli uomini che non hanno paura di dare voce propri pensieri e al proprio disìo!” [. . .]    –Antonella Valoroso, Corriere, March 27, 2021 (retrieved April 11, 2022)

To read Valoroso’s full reflections, visit the full article here.

Dante in the British Library: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven

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On September 14, 2021, the British Library in London hosted an online event titled “Dante in the British Library: Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven”. The event featured two lectures on Dante about the following:

“Alessandro Scafi – Mapping Paradise in the Middle Ages: Dante and the Garden of Eden

“Christian scholars and map-makers of the late Middle Ages were dedicated to the search for the Garden of Eden, as described in Genesis. Could paradise be found on a map? Dante’s knowledge of geographical lore was deep, rich, and varied, and his Divine Comedy echoes contemporary debates about the location and the mapping of paradise.

“Elisabeth Trischler – Architecture and the Afterlife: How the Urban Spaces of Medieval Florence inspired Dante’s Divine Comedy

“The city of Florence underwent a significant building boom in the 13th and 14th centuries, and this expansion offers a way to explore Dante’s world. This lecture uses illustrations of the Divine Comedy from the British Library’s collection to show how Dante’s masterpiece was shaped by Florence’s urban spaces.” [. . .]    —The British Library (retrieved April 11, 2022)

View the event’s listing on the British Library’s website here.

“Di soglia in soglia” between Dakar and Ravenna Cultural Event in Ravenna, Italy (2021)

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“The city of Ravenna is dedicating 30 July to the deep cultural bonds established over the years with Senegal, remembering Mandiaye N’Diaye, who initiated these relations. The day is also in honor of Dante: ‘Di soglia in soglia’ (‘From rank to rank’) is a verse from Canto III of Paradise and in the evening Canto I of the Divine Comedy will be read, translated for the first time into Wolof.

“It is at this point that we arrive in Ravenna: the Institute of Dakar contacted the Teatro delle Albe, which has been involved in Senegal for over thirty years following the long-time collaboration with the Senegalese actor and director Mandiaye N’Diaye, who passed away in 2014, proposing the publication, together, of a book that would collect testimonies of the cultural ties between Ravenna and Senegal and the creation of this day on 30 July, dedicated to these relationships and to Mandiaye N’Diaye, all in the name of Dante, in the year of the 700th anniversary of his death.” [. . .]    —Italiana, July 30, 2021 (retrieved April 10, 2022)

The event included a round table discussion of Italian-Senegalese relations as well as a presentation on the translation of Canto I into Wolof and the work of Mandiya N’Diaye. Later on, a reading of Canto I in both Italian and Wolof was held at the tomb of Dante in Ravenna. For more information and a full program, visit the event’s website here.

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How to Cite

Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

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