| LECTURE 10 -- Oct 7 | ||
REQUIRED READING FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES October
12, 2019
How Italians Became ‘White’
|
||
|
Premise Today in class I talked about the historical moment when Dante started writing the Divina Commedia. You can find plenty of biographical information on line and in the two videos below. In my lecture I tried to emphasize the importance of the starting point. Dante is in a desperate state, exiled from his beloved Florence, separated from his circle of friends and his family, Florence itself has fallen in the hands of a tyrannical political faction. Dante is homeless, penniless, depressed, anguished with doubts about himself, with an overwhelming sense of guilt and need for redemption. His journey begins the same way all journeys into one's selfconsciousness start, with the question "How did I get here?" and an exam of the present situation and the various steps that have led the person to where s/he is. This is the same process of all great autobiographies and journeys of self-discovery, from Saint Augustine's to Nelson Mandela's. This is how all great literary journeys begin, with this simple question.
|
Lecture
0 Lecture 1 Lecture 2 Lecture 3 Lecture 4 Lecture 5 Lecture 6 Lecture 7 Lecture 8 Lecture 9 Lecture 10 |
Aug 28 Sept 4 Sept 5 Sept 9 Sept 11 Sept 16 Sept 18 Sept 23 Sept 25 Oct 2 Oct 7 |
|
DIVINA COMMEDIA I looked far and wide for lectures or other explanatory materials (yes, books included) that presented a concise but effective contextual vision of Dante and the Divina Commedia. To my money, this is the best. Of course, the editor had to leave out several important aspects of Dante's life and work, but the overall selection of themes is compelling and very organic. Two details: during Dante's time, Florence was a Republic (no king or other kind of autocratic ruler). City Council (something like a senate) elected six "Priors" who rotated, two at the time, as heads of state in the course of one year (this model was similar to Ancient Rome's republican government, where the senate elected two consuls.) The idea was that two priors, with veto power over each other's decisions, would prevent the establishment of a dictator. Dante was elected prior for one term. After his term was over, he was sent to Rome to the pope on a diplomatic mission. As you will learn in the video, he was exiled and never set foot in Florence again. At a certain point, Dante was offered amnesty on the condition he pleaded guilty of treason. Proud, stern and inflexible as he was, he considered that a humiliation and refused. He died in exile in the city of Ravenna where he is buried. The city of Florence tried innumerable times to have his body returned, but Ravenna (and every Italian that I know) loudly shouted "NO." (Hatreds, enmities and grievances in Italy last for centuries.) VIDEO 1
|
|
|
| INFERNO
Canto 1 CLICK TEXT AND TRANSLATION verses 1-12 Canto 3 " vs, 1-51; 82-108 Canto 15 vs. 22-60 Canto 26 vs. 1-6; 85-142 |
| INFERNO Canto 26, Ulysses's canto.
The topos of Ulysses originated from ancient myths. The most famous literary narration appears in Homer's ILIAD (minor character, but important role) and as the main character in the ODYSSEY. In Dante he appears as the symbol of intellectual disquiet, driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge, to the point of defying the boundaries god set for humans. He becomes a symbol of hubris but at the same time symbol of the infinite quest for noble virtue (courage) and James Joyce in the eponymous novel ULYSSES [immo the greatest work of fiction ever written]. Ulysses appears also in one of the most important memoirs
of the Shoah, Primo Levi's If This Is a Man also published
with the alternative title Survival in Auschwitz (Italian
title: Se questo e' un uomo.) Primo Levi takes Dante's
Ulysses, and in particular the mission Ulysses gives himself to
continue his quest and turns it into what is probably the single
most important moment in his memoir, the moment of understanding and
true knowledge, of GNOSIS. Lucio Dalla, song writer and composer, reconnected to Dante's Ulysses in the song ITACA [Italian spelling for ITHACA, the island where Ulysses returned after 20 years away from his old father, his son and his wife Penelope.] VIDEO 2 ITACA (Lucio Dalla) and, yes, it IS a choir of drunken sailors
|
|
| Capitano che hai negli occhi il tuo nobile destino pensi mai al marinaio a cui manca pane e vino? Capitano che hai trovato Itaca, Itaca, Itaca Capitano le tue colpe Itaca, Itaca, Itaca Capitano che risolvi Ma anche la paura in fondo Itaca, Itaca, Itaca
|
Captain, you in whose in eyes shines a noble destiny, do you ever think of the sailor who's without bread and wine? Captain, you who found Ithaca, Ithaca, Ithaca Captain, I too pay for your faults Ithaca, Ithaca, Ithaca Captain, you who can solve But even fear after all Ithaca, Ithaca, Ithaca |
| VIDEO 3 "Why Every Person in the World Should Read Dante's Commedia" - Professor Bill Cook SKIP TO 3:00
|
|
|
As you watch the video, visualize the structure of Inferno, Purgatory,
Paradise.
|
||
|
The PURGATORY works from the bottom up. Here we find the souls of
imperfect people, those who failed themselves or God but did not incur in
mortal sins. Or, if they did, they repented and expiated on Earth. |
||
|
In the Paradise we find the souls (spirits) of righteous and virtuous people who died in the grace of God (namely, not in a state of MORTAL SIN [Inferno] or VENIAL SIN [Purgatory]. For the meaning of VENIAL SIN click here But Paradise is not the same for all spirits. As in the Inferno and Purgatory there is a hierarchy. Some spirits are better than others. Scroll down for a translation of the categories.
|
||
|
MOON |
Spirits/ souls (of people) who did not keep their vows or promises. |
|
MERCURY |
Spirits/ souls who did good to obtain fame and honors. |
| VENUS | Spirits/ souls who experienced earthly passions and later turned to the burning love of to God. |
| SUN | Wise and erudite spirits. |
| MARS | Militant spirits who fought for their faith. |
| JUPITER | Righteous and pious spirits. |
| SATURN | Contemplative, mystical spirits. |
| UNMOVABLE STARS | Triumph of Christ; Apotheosis of Mary. |
| CRYSTAL SKY - EMPYREAN | Candid Rose of the Blessed (saints); Angelical Hierarchies, God |