Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

“10 commandments for a successful life, according to Dante”

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“Most people think of Dante’s [The Divine Comedy] as a medieval literary artifact, a classic more admired than read. Believe it or not, it’s the greatest self-help book of all time.

“Two years ago, lost in a serious personal crisis, I stumbled upon the Commedia, as it is called in the original Italian, while browsing in a bookstore. I’m not much of a poetry reader, and Dante’s 14,000-line work is the last place I would have thought to look for life coaching.

[. . .]

“All of us will find ourselves in a personal dark wood at some time in our lives. Here are Ten Commandments from the epic poetic trilogy that includes Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso that can help us find our way out.

[. . .]

“1. Be honest with yourself about your failings, 2. Do not make wealth and accomplishment the measure of your success, but rather virtue and compassion, 3. Cultivate humility and gratitude, 4. Harmony is more important than equality, 5. Acknowledge limits, and live by them, 6. Reconcile yourself to the truth that some questions can never be satisfactorily answered, 7. Think of sin as a failure of love, 8. Master your passions, or they will master you, 9. Don’t mistake icons for idols, 10. Follow trusted teachers and mentors”   —Rod Dreher, “10 commandments for a successful life, according to Dante,” Washington Post, April 6, 2015 (retrieved March 6, 2024)

“What Politicians’ Libraries Tell Us”

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“Today, we published an essay by Anna Momigliano on the strange cultural touchstone that those on the Italian far right have adored from Mussolini’s time to the present: the medieval poet Dante, whom they see as the father of Italian identity. Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s new prime minister, is carrying on the legacy of exploiting Dante’s words to further a political agenda.

[. . .]

“Why do fascists love Dante?

“The far right didn’t bring Dante out of obscurity. He has, of course, been one of Italy’s most revered literary figures for centuries. But to understand how his veneration reached a new level, one must look to Meloni’s historical predecessors, the original fascists.”   —Maya Chung, “What Politicians’ Libraries Tell Us,” The Atlantic, Feb 10, 2023 (retrieved March 6, 2024)

“‘Love that Moves the Sun’: Catholicism’s Deeper Ecology – A Response to Clive Hamilton”

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Mary Taylor, in her blog, utilizes Dante’s words from Paradiso 33 to counter the claims of a conditional love on behalf of God by Clive Hamilton:

“For many, religion is little more than a cluster of stories that are only acceptable if they function as utilitarian aids to the ultimate end, the Summum Bonum of ‘saving the earth.’ This movement is part of a larger picture which eventually culminates in what David C. Schindler called the “tendency to reduce thinking to politics,” and an impoverished conception of reason that ultimately forces us to see every question in terms of an eternal struggle between ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ (political terms left over from the French Revolution that should have no place in discussions of Catholic faith and teaching).

“But reductionism is double-edged: like holding up a stencil or template to the world, great swatches of our vision are blocked out entirely, and whatever else remains to be seen is forced into a certain shape. ‘The alternative to seeing what is there,’ says Frank Sheed, ‘is either not seeing what is there, and this is darkness; or seeing what is not there, and this is error, derangement, a kind of double darkness.'”   —Mary Taylor, “‘Love that Moves the Sun’: Catholicism’s Deeper Ecology – A Response to Clive Hamilton,” ABC, March 16, 2021 (retrieved March 6, 2024)

“‘Talking Back to Dante’: A tribute in verse” (2022)

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the-barque-of-dante-by-eugène-delacroix-1822

“Last summer, in anticipation of the anniversary, I committed myself to reading a canto of La Commedia each morning. Since there are exactly 100 cantos and there are very nearly 100 days of summer—and since La Commedia is divided into 3 sections in much the same way that the summer is divided into 3 months—this seemed a perfectly poetic way to spend the summer. It was an intense experience, walking with Dante each day. Even on bright, sunny mornings, I found myself drawn into the dark world of the poem. The striking images would stay with me. Dante was not only in my waking thoughts; he began entering into my dreams. He became a ghost haunting the hallways of my house as well as the corners of my mind.

[…]

“It should come as no surprise to us that the world has changed since 1321, when Dante completed La Commedia. And yet, Dante has bequeathed us a vision and a vast cast of characters that enable us to see ourselves, with all of our failings, our strivings and our aspirations. He has captured what is universal in the human condition, even as he was subject to the limitations and prejudices of his own time.

[…]

“‘Talking Back to Dante’ is but one of many recent projects created to honor the master poet and his masterful poem. Writers and artists all over the world are penning stories and poems, molding sculptures, making paintings and movies and music in conversation with Dante. All of this artistic energy, set in motion by Dante, serves as evidence and celebration of the fact that La Commedia is a living work of genius, not some dead artifact or dusty museum piece frozen in time. As T. S. Eliot and the countless creative works inspired by Dante, can attest, La Commedia is very much alive 700 years after its completion and promises to charm us, challenge us and haunt us for centuries to come.”   —Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, “‘Talking Back to Dante’: A tribute in verse,” America The Jesuit Review, March 31, 2022 (retrieved January 25, 2024)

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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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