ITAL 30153 Dante's Inferno
This course will examine Dante Alighieri's Inferno, the first canticle of his epic poem known as The Divine Comedy. Dante's Comedy, produced during a period of rapid transition, is one of the great works of World literature and a foundational text for Medieval culture, both pagan and Christian. In this course, we will study Dante's epic poem in its historical context and how it relates to our own world, given that The Divine Comedy is ultimately about an individual's search for meaning. We will see how Dante's allegorical and mystical journey to God unfolds through a series of precise descriptions of characters, settings, and concrete episodes that comprise the vast world of the great narrative poem. Students will gain a critical understanding of this literary masterpiece as well as the cultural context in which it was produced. The course is taught entirely in English; all readings are in English.