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Dante's Inferno: Descent into the Abyss (Lecture on Cantos X-XXII) (Patreon)

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2024-10-13 20:32:05
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Content

'I turned like one who cannot wait to see the thing he dreads, and who, in sudden fright, runs while he looks, his curiosity, competing with his terror.'

Today we descend ever deeper into the darkness of hell as we forge on through Dante's Inferno.

We're discussing disgusting poetics, classical repackaging, challenging theology, heretical Epicureans, sins of malice, tragedy in the afterlife, elements of farce, Dante's universe construction, and much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 our descent into hell continues

1:00 meeting the heretical Epicureans

3:00 Christianity vs Epicureanism

5:00 Dante’s meeting with Farinata

7:00 posthumously tried for heresy

9:00 meeting Cavalcanti’s father

12:00 Sweet New Style movement

14:00 the miracle of Dante’s Italian

16:00 earthquake after Christ’s death

18:00 adjusting to the reek of the abyss

19:00 on the division of Lower Hell

20:00 why is malice most hated by God?

22:00 Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

24:00 the violent against neighbours

25:00 centaurs guards & boiling blood

28:00 who are the tyrants in hell?

30:00 the violent against themselves

32:00 feeling compassion in the forest

34:00 trees bleeding & howling in pain

35:00 the tragedy of Pier della Vigne

37:00 justice vs injustice in the afterlife

38:00 harpies giving the trees eternal pain

40:00 taking a trip back to the medieval era

44:00 plain of burning sand & raining fire

46:00 meeting the figure of Capaneus

49:00 Dante’s relationship with the reader

50:00 how memory is mother of the muses

51:00 romantic troubadour story tradition

52:00 a parallel with the Marvel Universe

53:00 symbolism of the Old Man of Crete

55:00 meeting the violent against nature

56:00 Dante’s teacher Ser Brunetto Latini

58:00 riding on the back of Geryon

1:00:00 Dante’s imaginative metalepsis

1:02:00 how usurers are punished in hell

1:04:00 panderers, seducers & flatterers

1:07:00 sinners in a river of excrement

1:09:00 Dante as master of the disgusting

1:11:00 Dante puts more clergymen in hell

1:13:00 style, structure & theme in the poem

1:15:00 the sorcerers & diviners in hell

1:17:00 why eternity is the punishment

1:18:00 catering fruit from our deep reading

1:19:00 when reason hardens your heart

1:21:00 how Dante constructs a universe

1:22:00 how corrupt politicians are punished

1:24:00 malebranche/evil claw demons

1:26:00 what are you making of the poem?

Resources:

  • Biography: A. N. Wilson, whose critical biographies of great writers like Milton, Dickens, and Tolstoy, has a superb study of the supreme poet called Dante in Love that is very rewarding to read alongside your journey through the Inferno. Wilson's examination of the sociopolitical context and Dante's worldview and craft is intensely illuminating.

  • Art Appreciation: I've previously recommended Gustave Dorè's sublime depictions of Dante's Divine Comedy. Now I would like to recommend the exquisite illustrations of great English poet William Blake, which you can appreciate in gorgeous book form here.

  • Poetry Expansion: Dante's terza rima is notoriously difficult to translate effectively into English. But if you would like to see an example of this interlocking rhyming verse form done powerfully in English, then treat yourself to Shelley's 'The Triumph of Life', which was heavily inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. And if you enjoyed the Cavalcanti poem we read during the lecture, you can check out more of his works here.

  • Philosophy: If our trip through the sixth circle of hell piqued your curiosity about Epicureanism, then you might like this book from Penguin that collates his writings together. You may also find Lucretius' On the Nature of Things to be interesting as this poem was designed to explain Epicurean philosophy.

  • Comparative Exercise: We are going to have our discussion on Shakespeare's tragedy of Coriolanus in the next few days. So it might be a good time to revisit this T. S. Eliot quote: 'Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them. There is no third.' What do you think? What are the differences and similarities of these two master writers? And if you had to add a third writer to this assertion, who would it be?

  • Fantastical Beasts: One of things that excites me the most when reading Dante's great poem is encountering how he presents creatures of classical mythology in his own unique way. If you're interested in a comprehensive examination of mythological creatures from all over the world, then this video is extraordinary. And let us know: which fantastical creature is your personal favourite?

Reading Assignment:

Our next discussion will take us up to and including Canto XXXIV, which marks the end of Dante's Inferno and takes us to the darkest pit of hell. So fortify yourself and forge on, appreciating the poetry, and continuing to note down any ideas, themes, or passages that personally resonate with you.

Questions for You:

1) What are your thoughts on how Dante orders the circles of hell?

2) What has surprised you the most from your reading of Dante's Inferno?

3) Where would you find inspiration if you wanted to pen your own epic?

4) Does Dante's allegorical purpose remain instructive to modern readers? What do we get from our reading besides this?

And please let us know what lines, passages, or ideas have stood out to you the most from this part of the poem. Dante said he wished his readers to gather fruit from this work, so let us know what you have gathered from your journey through the Inferno.

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

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Comments

Josh LaMar, He-Him

I've been loving this read - SO so much. I started out with Clive James... and it was fine at first, but I've switched: my husband planned a surprise trip for me based on a prompt I gave: Literary Destination. We ended up in Italy. In Milan, Verona (for Shakespeare, and yes, we stayed in Juliet's house with a view to the famous balcony), Bologna, and Ravenna (for Dante). I've learned that Dante spent time in Verona, Bologna, and Ravenna, where he's now buried. Yes, visiting his tomb was a pilgrimage for me. There's even a reference to the Garisenda tower in the Inferno (canto mid-20s, I forget the exact reference! Sorry!!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Towers,_Bologna Around Ravenna, you can take a walking tour of the old city and there are plaques everywhere with lines from the Divine Comedy along the buildings and fences. So, I'm seeing Dante pop up everywhere in my life. I already finished reading the Inferno and am moving on to the rest. Purgatorio was always my favorite, so I'm looking forward to re-reading it and this time, I'm going to give Paradiso the time it deserves (I skipped a bit too much during my college course). Midway through my journey in life, I took a sabbatical and moved from the USA to Paris in 2019. The dark wood of corporate America became too much and I came to France to find myself along my own journey. Re-reading Dante now, just past that gives new perspective into Dante the Poet's own journey. SO much has not changed. The politics of Florence are the political problems of our day as well. The evil we face in day to day life may also not have changed that much. Dante's Inferno is as fresh today-and as shocking-as it probably was back in Dante's time. We haven't learned much as humans. But perhaps, the more we remember, the better decisions we can make. Thank you, Ben, for this lovely lecture. I'm finding this journey to be very moving and reinforces why I love Dante so much.

Bobbe Nunes

The audible options are wonderful! My husband and I were able to listen while watching the activity outside the kitchen window. Even with late stage Alzheimer’s he listened and responded with recognition and perhaps both of us are at the stage of life to more fully identify with the mere fact that humans are meaning makers in their recognition of life’s challenges. It was magical and I am so grateful for this experience. Thank you 🙏

River
>>152915651

Hi Josh, I enjoyed reading your beautiful post. Wow, what a great prompt for a vacation destination!! The last time I was in Italy, I was with a tour group (never again!) and we rushed through the big cities seeing a lot of art, but not stopping for the true diamonds of Italy - just strolling through the streets and churches and sitting calmly at a side cafe somewhere. One evening, I went off on my own through Florence. I entered a church, because, why not?! It was the church of Ognissanti and inside I was shocked to see the fresco of Domenico Ghirlandaio, St. Jerome in His Study, along with several others. I also stopped and sketched a coat of arms from a building's face, and sat at a cafe for some refreshments. Those few hours of my two week trip were, by far the most memorable! I long to see Ravenna someday for the mosaics, but now also because of Dante, since I was only familiar with his name, not so much his work! I have been thinking of a journey to Italy, for many reasons... Thank you so much for sharing this. Kudos to your husband!!

Gem Esprey

Another wonderful lecture. I’m yet again learning so much! I feel that I am barely touching the surface on this first read even with the great, informative lectures and everyone’s insightful comments. I have really enjoyed working my way through it and intend to carry on with the rest of the Divine Comedy then read it all again when I have read The Aeneid and some Greek mythology. At this stage, no-one else can hold a candle to Shakespeare for me! But please ask me again in ten years after lots more deep reading ☺️

Greg
>>152937563

Wow! This is so amazing and inspiring! I sometimes wonder, at my middle age, whether I am coming too late to these wonderful literary treasures for them to have any meaningful impact on my life, its direction, etc. Much love to you and your husband. He is lucky to have someone like you accompanying him.

Tanya

Imagine my surprise when I found Michael Scott the Magician in Hell. I couldn’t resist asking the internet if Michael Scott, Dunder-Mifflin’s own amateur magician took his name from Dante. He did. 😆

Cgast

Reading Dante in italian is improving my ability to visualize as I read. This is an improvement over translating while I read. That whole adjective following the noun thing persistently muddled my visualization. Beyond the language learning there were a few wow moments. First was the rhyme scheme. It was easy to tune into the terza rima structure but I did not find any poetic syllable rhythm so I abandoned that thinking. When I read the text without forcing any type of meter and just read the text with a beat that followed normal pause e respiri I found that each line in the text seems to have its own natural flow which terminates at the final phoneme. In other words I seem to be able to read it so it sounds pleasing. Secondly, each line is a stand alone thought, and each series of three lines(terza rima) seems to yield an AhHa idea. This knowledge is making the story arc of each Canton a bit easier to identify. I took the opportunity to pick apart lines 1-9 of Canton Terzo. Reading these lines in Italian the engraving over the cave seems less like the Doors of Durin providing information (Lord of the Rings) and more like a personalized lecture from the Almighty to the unfortunate soul crossing the barrier. The difference I suppose is hair splitting but it does illustrate to me that the poem is a slightly different read in the original language.

Elliot Kane

I just finished the Inferno this weeked, so even though I am late to the party I very much appreciate your lectures on this incredible poem. It is my second time reading this work (the first time was last year) and this time 'round I am even more astonished at the majesty, power, meaning, and meaning of Dante's Inferno. It has shot up my personal literary canon, right up to the top alongside Paradise Lost. I am reading the Sinclair translation, which is in prose with the Italian facing. I think the Sinclair is accurate (based on my knowledge of Italian), and while it may not be in verse, the meaning and strength of the original is maintained. It also includes a dedicated essay for each canto. Normally, I prefer to avoid explanatory notes, but the Inferno is so replete with allusions which I am not well enough read (yet) to know all of them, not to mention all of Dante's contemporaries that these notes are indispensible to my understanding and basic comprehension of the work. Incidentally, since you mentioned desiring to learn Italian, Benjamin, I would encourage you to do so. I learned Italian in school; based on that experience, I would say that Italian is one of the easiest langauges an English speaker could choose to learn: there are no difficult sounds to make, the alphabet is almost identical, there are many similar words, and the grammar is not so difficult either. However, I have asked a few Italians and apparently Dante's language is extremely difficult for a modern Italian. On my first reading of the work, I was mostly struck by the essential entertainment value of the work, the individual character and variety of each canto, and by the audacity of Dante the author to include so many of his contemporaries in Hell. On my second time through, I appreciated the deeper meaning more. I spent more time trying to understand the symbolism--because it seems like every word or phrase, as you said in the first lecture, has a multitude of meanings. Reading the Commedia is an excellent exercise for sharpening your critical reading ability--I found myself wanting to predict the symbolism and deeper meaning of things before I reached the note at the end of the canto; there were many times were the meaning of such and such an action (e.g. Dante untying and throwing down into the abyss the cord which was girt around his waist in Canto XVI) went unnoticed by me until the note, where then it seemed so obvious in hindsight! I still have much to learn! Additionally, I paid much more attention to the relationship between Virgil and Dante, which is so tender and familial. Virgil represents Reason and guides Dante unerringly through Hell and up to the light. Virgil behaves as though he is Dante's father. I imagine that was intentional. For Dante, reason, Divine Reason is a gift from God the Father, so it is only natural that it guides the soul the way a father guides his son. It is an element which I didn't expect, but ended up being one of the things I most enjoyed reading throughout the work. Also, it makes me desperately want to read the Aeneid! P.S. I liked your likening the depiction of Hell to the paintings of Bosch. Nice one.

Josie Swallow

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Nietzsche. Something I’m pondering at the moment in reference to Dante’s Inferno

Steven McVicar

I loved this lecture. Thank you Benjamin!

Jessica

Finally finished Inferno. The lectures helped me immensely and I’m already eager for a revisit.

Craig Mckissick

I picked the Ciardi and felt like the novelty of the rhyme held it back quite a bit. I just felt the whole time I was wanting to learn Italian. However the greatness of Dante transcends through any old satanic river of💩