Course: Dante in Translation with Giuseppe Mazzotta Dnatube
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Lec 1 - Introduction - Dante in Translation
"Lec 1 - Introduction" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta introduces students to the general scheme and scope of the Divine Comedy and to the life of its author. Various genres to which the poem belongs (romance, epic, vision) are indicated, and special attention is given to its place within the encyclopedic tradition. The poem is then situated historically through an...
Lec 2 - Vita Nuova
"Lec 2 - Vita Nuova" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture is devoted to the Vita nuova, Dante's autobiographical account of his "double apprenticeship" in poetry and love. The poet's love for Beatrice is explored as the catalyst for his search for a new poetic voice. Medieval theories of love and the diverse poetics they inspired are discussed in contrast. The novelty of the poet's...
Lec 3 - Inferno I, II, III, IV
"Lec 3 - Inferno I, II, III, IV" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta introduces students to the Divine Comedy, focusing on the first four cantos of Inferno. Stylistic, thematic and formal features of the poem are discussed in the context of its original title, Comedy. The first canto is read to establish the double voice of the poet-pilgrim and to contrast the immanent journey...
Lec 4 - Inferno V, VI, VII
"Lec 4 - Inferno V, VI, VII" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture examines Inferno IV -VII. Dante's Limbo, modeled on the classical locus amoenus, is identified as a place of repose and vulnerability. Here, in fact, among the poets of antiquity, the pilgrim falls prey to poetic hubris by joining in their ranks. The pilgrim is faced with the consequences of his poetic vocation when...
Lec 5 - Inferno XII, XIII, XV, XVI
"Lec 5 - Inferno XII, XIII, XV, XVI" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture focuses on the middle zone of Inferno, the area of violence (Inferno XII-XVI). Introductory remarks are made on the concentration of hybrid creatures in this area of Hell and followed by a close reading of cantos XIII and XV. The pilgrim's encounter with Pier delle Vigne (Inferno XIII) is placed in literary...
Lec 6 - Inferno XIX, XXI, XXV, XXVI
"Lec 6 - Inferno XIX, XXI, XXV, XXVI" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture deals primarily with Cantos XIX and XXVI of Inferno. Simony, the sin punished in Inferno XIX, is situated historically to point out the contiguity of the sacred and the profane and its relevance to the prophetic voice Dante established in this canto. The fine line between prophecy and profanation is shown to...
Lec 7 - Inferno XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII
"Lec 7 - Inferno XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta begins this lecture by recapitulating the ambivalent nature of Ulysses' sin and its relevance to Dante's poetic project. Inferno XXVII is then read in conjunction with the preceding canto. The antithetical relationship between Dante's false counselors, Ulysses and Guido da Montefeltro, anchors an...
Lec 8 - Inferno XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII ...
"Lec 8 - Inferno XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) The final cantos of Inferno are read with a view to the role of the tragic within Dante's Comedy. Using Dante's discussion of tragedy in the De vulgari eloquentia as a point of departure, Professor Mazzotta traces the disintegration of language that accompanies the pilgrim's descent into the pit of Hell, the...
Lec 9 - Purgatory I, II
"Lec 9 - Purgatory I, II" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) In this lecture, Professor Mazzotta introduces Purgatory and proceeds with a close reading of Cantos I and II. The topography of Mount Purgatory is described, and the moral system it structures is contrasted with that of Hell. Dante's paradoxical choice of Cato, a pagan suicide, as guardian to the entrance of Purgatory ushers in a...
Lec 10 - Purgatory V, VI, IX, X
"Lec 10 - Purgatory V, VI, IX, X" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture covers Purgatory V, VI, IX and X. The purgatorial theme of freedom introduced in the previous lecture is revisited in the context of Canto V, where Buonconte da Montefeltro's appearance among the last minute penitents is read as a critique of the genealogical bonds of natural necessity. The poet passes from...
Lec 11 - Purgatory X, XI, XII, XVI, XVII
"Lec 11 - Purgatory X, XI, XII, XVI, XVII" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) In this lecture, Professor Mazzotta moves from the terrace of pride (Purgatory X-XII) to the terrace of wrath (Purgatory XVI-XVII). The relationship between art and pride, introduced in the previous lecture in the context of Canto X, is pursued along theological lines in the cantos immediately following. The "ludic...
Lec 12 - Purgatory XIX, XXI, XXII
"Lec 12 - Purgatory XIX, XXI, XXII" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture deals primarily with Purgatory XIX, XXI and XXII. The ambiguity of the imagination discussed in the preceding lecture as the selfsame path to intellectual discovery and disengagement is explored in expressly poetic terms. While the pilgrim's dream of the siren in Purgatory XIX warns of the death-dealing power...
Lec 13 - Purgatory XXIV, XXV, XXVI
"Lec 13 - Purgatory XXIV, XXV, XXVI" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Guest lecturer Professor David Lummus discusses Purgatory XXIV-XXVI. On the terraces of gluttony and lust, the pilgrim's encounters with masters of the Italian love lyric give rise to the Comedy's most sustained treatment of poetics. Through Dante's older contemporary Bonagiunta (Purgatory XXIV), the pilgrim distinguishes...
Lec 14 - Purgatory XXX, XXXI, XXXIII
"Lec 14 - Purgatory XXX, XXXI, XXXIII" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture deals with Dante's representation of the Earthly Paradise at the summit of Mount Purgatory. The quest for freedom begun under the aegis of Cato in Purgatory I reaches its denouement at the threshold of Eden, where Virgil proclaims the freedom of the pilgrim's will (Purgatory XXVII). Left with pleasure as his...
Lec 15 - Paradise I, II
"Lec 15 - Paradise I, II" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta introduces students to Paradise. The Ptolemaic structure of Dante's cosmos is described along with the arts and sciences associated with its spheres. Beatrice's role as teacher in Dante's cosmological journey is distinguished from that of her successor, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. An introduction to Dante's third and...
Lec 16 - Paradise IV, VI, X
"Lec 16 - Paradise IV, VI, X" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture deals with Paradise IV, VI and X. At the beginning of Paradise IV, the pilgrim raises two questions to which the remainder of the canto is devoted. The first concerns Piccarda (Paradise III) who was constrained to break her religious vows. The second concerns the arrangement of the souls within the stars. The common...
Lec 17 - Paradise XI, XII
"Lec 17 - Paradise XI, XII" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta continues his discussion of the Heaven of the Sun (Paradise X-IV), where the earthly disputes between the Franciscan and Dominican orders give way to mutual praise. The tribute St. Thomas pays to the founder of the Franciscan order (Paradise XI) is repaid by St. Bonaventure through his homage to St. Dominic...
Lec 18 - Paradise XV, XVI, XVII
"Lec 18 - Paradise XV, XVI, XVII" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture focuses on the cantos of Cacciaguida (Paradise XV-XVII). The pilgrim's encounter with his great-great grandfather brings to the fore the relationship between history, self and exile. Through his ancestor's mythology of their native Florence, Dante is shown to move from one historiographic mode to another, from...
Lec 19 - Paradise XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII
"Lec 19 - Paradise XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) In this lecture, Professor Mazzotta examines Paradise XVIII-XIX and XXI-XXII. In Paradise XVIII, Dante enters the Heaven of Jupiter, where the souls of righteous rulers assume the form of an eagle, the emblem of the Roman Empire. The Eagle's outcry against the wickedness of Christian kings leads Dante to probe the...
Lec 20 - Paradise XXIV, XXV, XXVI
"Lec 20 - Paradise XXIV, XXV, XXVI" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture covers Paradise XXIV-XXVI. In the Heaven of the Fixed Stars, Dante is examined on the three theological virtues by the apostles associated with each: St. Peter with faith (Paradise XXIV), St. James with hope (Paradise XXV), and St. John with love (Paradise XXVI). While mastering these virtues is irrelevant to...
Lec 21 - Paradise XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX
"Lec 21 - Paradise XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) This lecture focuses on Paradise XXVII-XXIX. St. Peter's invective against the papacy from the Heaven of the Fixed Stars is juxtaposed with Dante's portrayal of its contemporary incumbent, Boniface VIII, in the corresponding canto of Inferno. Recalls of infernal characters proliferate as the pilgrim ascends with Beatrice...
Lec 22 - Paradise XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII
"Lec 22 - Paradise XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) Professor Mazzotta lectures on the final cantos of Paradise (XXX-XXXIII). The pilgrim's journey through the physical world comes to an end with his ascent into the Empyrean, a heaven of pure light beyond time and space. Beatrice welcomes Dante into the Heavenly Jerusalem, where the elect are assembled in a celestial...
Lec Last - General Review
"Lec Last - General Review" Dante in Translation (ITAL 310) The last class of the semester consists of a brief recapitulation of topics in the Divine Comedy addressed throughout the course, followed by an extensive question and answer session with the students. The questions posed allow Professor Mazzotta to elaborate on issues raised over the course of the semester, from Dante's place...
Dante in Translation with Giuseppe Mazzotta
Source of these courses is Yale
The course is an introduction to Dante and his cultural milieu through a critical reading of the Divine Comedy and selected minor works (Vita nuova, Convivio, De vulgari eloquentia, Epistle to Cangrande). An analysis of Dante's autobiography, the Vita nuova, establishes the poetic and political circumstances of the Comedy's composition. Readings of Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise seek to situate Dante's work within the intellectual and social context of the late Middle Ages.
Yale Website: http://www.dnatube.com/school/yale
COURSE NAME: Dante in Translation with Giuseppe Mazzotta