Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

Nicholas Lezard’s 10 Things You Need To Know About Dante

By

nicholas-lezard

“For someone who was writing mainly in the early part of the 14th century, Dante’s shadow is long. He was a major influence on the modernists and their followers, especially TS Eliot – ‘The Waste Land’ is stuffed full of references to the Inferno – and Samuel Beckett, whose entire oeuvre could be said to be a reworking of themes and images from Dante. When asked what he wanted to do with his life, Beckett replied: ‘All I want to do is sit on my arse and fart and think about Dante,’ but luckily for us he also did a bit of writing as well. Meanwhile, a new translation of the Inferno comes out pretty much every year.” [ . . . ]

1. He might well be the greatest poet who ever lived.
2. He didn’t just write the Inferno, you know
3. Dante is still incredibly influential
4. He was still very much a product of his time
5. He more or less invented the Italian language
6. It’s not all doom and eternal punishment
7. More on love
8. He’s not easy to translate, but that hasn’t stopped people trying
9. He’s surprisingly comforting
10. He’s not that hard

–Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian, May 9, 2013

Lele Mora and the Ruby Sex Case

By

lele-mora-and-the-ruby-sex-case-la-repubblica-milano

Today (28 June 2013) Lele Mora, involved in the famous Ruby-sex-case as Berlusconi’s personal “talent scout”, delivered a speech in front of his judges stating that he wants to break free from the hellish (lustful!) hurricane to see the stars: “Voglio uscire da questa bufera infernale che mi ha tolto la luce voglio vedere le stelle e il cielo azzurro.”

Found at: La Repubblica Milano

See Also: “Ruby bis: Lele Mora in aula. L’udienza del talent scout dopo quella di Nicole Minetti e Emilio Fede (Diretta),” L’Huffington Post, June 18, 2013

“What the Hell: Dante in Translation and in Dan Brown’s New Novel”

By

what-the-hell-dante-in-translation-and-in-dan-browns-new-novel“People can’t seem to let go of the Divine Comedy. You’d think that a fourteenth-century allegorical poem on sin and redemption, written in a medieval Italian vernacular and in accord with the Scholastic theology of that period, would have been turned over, long ago, to the scholars in the back carrels. But no. By my count there have been something like a hundred English-language translations, and not just by scholars but by blue-chip poets: in the past half century, John Ciardi, Allen Mandelbaum, Robert Pinsky, W. S. Merwin. Liszt and Tchaikovsky have composed music about the poem; Chaucer, Balzac, and Borges have written about it. In other words, the Divine Comedy is more than a text that professors feel has to be brushed up periodically for students. It’s one of the reasons there are professors and students.” [. . .]    –Joan Acocella, The New Yorker, May 27, 2013

“The Price of Loyalty in Syria”

By

the-price-of-loyalty-in-syria“. . .One night in Damascus, I met a 33-year-old computer programmer named Amir who had been part of the nonviolent protest movement from the beginning. . .
I asked if he was still active in the rebellion. ‘They put me in prison for two days,’ he said. ‘I was not tortured, no one even said a bad word to me. But for me it was — ‘ He stumbled for words, then turned toward me. ‘You know how Dante went to hell and was allowed to return? This cell was 10 meters square, with 152 people in it. It was two stories underground. There is no air, you feel constantly that you will choke. They had an undeclared system: for the first week, you stand, all day and all night. Then you get to lean against the wall for a few days. Then you get to sit. When you are standing, you are terrified to fall asleep, because you may never get up. Some people were there for only a few hours, some for days or weeks, and some had been tortured in ways I never imagined. For food, you get a bit of bread and some water, but that does not matter. You get about 30 seconds, once a day, in the bathroom, but trust me, you are not even worried about that. Because there are people in there who are literally asking for death.'” [. . .]    –Robert F. Worth, The New York Times, June 19, 2013

Open the Slaughterhouses

By

open-the-slaughterhouses“IN 1999, as a writer for The American Prospect, I went into a slaughterhouse undercover, with the help of some rebellious employees. The floor was slick with the residue of blood and suet, and the air smelled like iron. A part of my brain spent the whole time trying to remember which of Dante’s circles this scene most resembled.”  [. . .]    –Jedediah Purdy, The New York Times, April 8, 2013

Recent Dante Citings

Categories

Submit a Sighting

All submissions will be considered for posting. Bibliographic references and scholarly essays are also welcome for consideration.

How to Cite

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

Creative