Florida International University

Course Syllabus LIT 4930

DANTE: THE DIVINE COMEDY

Summer B   2005 

Class Meets:   M W      6:25 – 9:05     GC 287B 

Dr. Joan Baker

Office:  DM 454C    348-3873  (voice mail)     bakerj@fiu.edu

Office Hours:     T    12:30 – 1:30       W   5:30 – 6:15      and by appt. 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri:  Inferno  translated by Allen Mandelbaum

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri:  Purgatorio  translated by Allen Mandelbaum

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Paradiso  translated by Allen Mandelbaum

Brucker, Gene, Florence: The Golden Age  1138 - 1737

Dore, Gustav, Illustrations to the Divine Comedy 

NOTE:  There are, of course, a multitude of translations and editions of The Divine Comedy. Because of substantial variation among translations and critical apparatus (notes to text), you must use the Mandelbaum texts for reading, discussion and written analysis (quotation and citation). 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

10%    Attendance/Participation      Attendance will be taken at beginning of class and after the break.  Participation includes class discussion and group presentation.

If you should have to miss class please notify me by e-mail in order to be excused.        

30%    Canto Analysis on a single assigned canto, one each for Inferno and Purgatorio.         

30%    5 - 6 pp paper on Divine Comedy

30%    Final exam  

Academic Misconduct: There’s a special place in my Inferno for those who plagiarize.

Plagiarism will result in failure in the course and a report to university administration—see

FIU Student Handbook.   

Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes:

            The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to one of the greatest works in Western literature, Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, and to the political, religious, and cultural context in which it was written.  Students will be expected to do close readings of specific cantos, to participate/present in class discussion, and in a final exam and a longer paper to demonstrate a grasp of Dante’s critique of Florence and its implications for his poetics of exile in exams and the final paper.     

COURSE DESCRIPTION 

This course will be devoted to the study of The Divine Comedy, the greatest work of the medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321). We will, of course, read the texts in English translation, but with the facing page in Italian in order to appreciate Dante’s distinctive verse.  

Because the Divine Comedy is so rich and complex a poem, we will approach the text in small pieces, in this case canto by canto.  Each student will sign up to do a close reading of a specific canto not only to produce a short paper (2 pp) but also to help guide class discussion through the literary terrain of the Inferno and Purgatorio. In so doing students will simulate the role of Virgil, Dante’s guide on his journey, and will become more aware of the role(s) of the poet and the narrator/guide in narrative art. Literary narrative, not unlike the literal journey or exile, entails notions both of place (verbal and visual space) and process (stasis and movement). 

The Divine Comedy: The Poetics of Exile

Significantly, Dante writes as an exile, having been banished from Florence in 1302 during the civil strife that plagued the city for years. Exile appears to have been essential to the writing of this work, for it is the “prophetic hope of exile” that shapes Dante’s vision of a commonwealth of ethical politics—an ideal later deemed impossible by Machiavelli.  In order to articulate this vision, he first examines the errors that tore Florence apart in the Inferno, and then explores the role of self-governance and ethical political conduct in Purgatorio. 

To demonstrate to his readers how Florence has been corrupted and perilously divided by the forces of self-interest, Dante invokes the Augustinian dictum “descend, so that you may ascend.”  Only by descending to the darkened spaces of the City of Dis and confronting “ --not some remote legendary hero or abstract allegorical figure, but flesh and blood historical Florentines, one’s alter-egos so to speak—“ does one comprehend the social consequences of his individual acts. What would have been instant recognition for Dante’s contemporary Florentine readers (especially those who exiled him) requires some hard work for modern readers in figuring out who’s who in hell.

This descent, for the poet in exile, is a painful journey that has been likened to depression and despair. Dante describes the purgation of sins in Purgatorio as a journey also undertaken with blood and bone, a journey of suffering and learning—this time about governance of the self:  “I crown and mitre you over yourself” (Purg. XXVII 142). The suffering of purgatory is rewarded with the insight necessary to recognize and receive the divine.

Dante did not title his work “divine.” It is the work itself,that has achieved immortality for the poet…a classical rather than Christian notion of the afterlife.  Art has achieved what Florentines could not—a God-fearing commonwealth bound by an ethical concern for others.

 Throughout the course we will consider the ways in which Dante’s political exile from Florence  shaped the poetry of The Divine Comedy -- from the notion of error or erring in the Inferno to that of individual and political ethics and justice in Purgatorio  

SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS 

NOTE:  Readings and Assignments are due on the date listed. 

Week 1

            W        6/29     Introduction to Course, to Dante, and Divine Comedy

                                    Introduction to Inferno and opening cantos

                                    Inferno  Canto Assignment & Guide given   

Week 2

            M         7/4       HOLIDAY  No Class 

            W        7/6       Reading:  Inferno:

                                                Cantos 1 – 12     1 - 8

 Introduction pp. viii-xxiii

                                                “Dante as Ancient & Modern” in Inferno  pp. 331-40

                                                Reading:   Brucker 7 – 23                                                                       

Week 3                      

            M         7/11     Reading:  Inferno Cantos 9  - 17                     

Reading:  Brucker  pp. 109 - 136                        

            W        7/13     Reading:  Inferno  Cantos 18 - 25

                                    Reading:  Brucker  pp.  27 – 55; pp. 157 – 173 

Week 4

M         7/18     Reading:  Inferno  Cantos  26 – 34

                        Reading:  Brucker  pp. 56 – 83           

W        7/20     Canto Analysis on Inferno due

                        Reading:  Purgatorio

   Introduction  pp. viii – xxx

                                       Cantos  1  -  10        

Week 5

M         7/25     Reading: Purgatorio  Cantos  11 –  23

                                    Reading:  Brucker  pp. 65 - 74         

            W        7/27     Reading:  Purgatorio  Cantos 24 - 33

                                    Reading:  Brucker  pp. 84 - 92                        

Week 6

            M         8/1       Canto analysis on Purgatorio due   

            Reading:  Brucker  191 - 205                                               

            W        8/3       Reading:  Paradiso   Cantos 1 – 4, 7, 19 – 21,  33 

Week 7

            M         8/8       Paper due  (5 – 6 pp) 

                                    Course Review 

W        8/10     Final Exam