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ITAL 310: Dante in Translation

Lecture 04 - Inferno V, VI, VII. 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 he descends to the circle of lust (Inferno V), where Francesca da Rimini, in her failure to distinguish romance from reality, testifies to the dangers inherent to the act of reading. From the destructive power of lust within the private world of the court, Dante moves on to the effects of its sister sin, gluttony, on the public sphere of the city. The relationship posited in Inferno VI between Ciacco and his native Florence is read as a critique of the "body politic." In conclusion, Virgil's discourse on Fortune in the circle of avarice and prodigality (Inferno VII) is situated within the Christian world of divine providence. (from oyc.yale.edu)

Lecture 04 - Inferno V, VI, VII

Time Lecture Chapters
[00:00:00] 1. The Ambiguities of Gardens
[00:04:10] 2. Canto V: The Second Circle
[00:13:14] 3. The Lustful in the Second Circle
[00:19:40] 4. Overwhelmed by Pity, Dante Faints Like a Dead Body
[00:32:34] 5. A Story of Reading; References to Time
[00:40:29] 6. Canto VI: The Third Circle; Ciacco
[00:57:47] 7. Dante's Political Understanding
[01:03:05] 8. Canto VII: The Avaricious in the Fourth Circle
[01:08:17] 9. Question and Answer

References
Lecture 4 - Inferno V, VI, VII
Instructor: Professor Giuseppe Mazzotta. Lecture 04 - Texts [PDF]. Visual Resources - Lecture 4 [HTML]. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov].

Go to the Course Home or watch other lectures:

Lecture 01 - Introduction
Lecture 02 - Vita Nuova
Lecture 03 - Inferno I, II, III, IV
Lecture 04 - Inferno V, VI, VII
Lecture 05 - Inferno IX, X, XI
Lecture 06 - Inferno XII, XIII, XV, XVI
Lecture 07 - Inferno XIX, XXI, XXV, XXVI
Lecture 08 - Inferno XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII
Lecture 09 - Inferno XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV
Lecture 10 - Purgatory I, II
Lecture 11 - Purgatory V, VI, IX, X
Lecture 12 - Purgatory X, XI, XII, XVI, XVII
Lecture 13 - Purgatory XIX, XXI, XXII
Lecture 14 - Purgatory XXIV, XXV, XXVI
Lecture 15 - Purgatory XXX, XXXI, XXXIII
Lecture 16 - Paradise I, II
Lecture 17 - Paradise IV, VI, X
Lecture 18 - Paradise XI, XII
Lecture 19 - Paradise XV, XVI, XVII
Lecture 20 - Paradise XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII
Lecture 21 - Paradise XXIV, XXV, XXVI
Lecture 22 - Paradise XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX
Lecture 23 - Paradise XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII
Lecture 24 - General Review