Dante's Purgatorio XXXII and XXXIII: A Survey of Christian History

Abstract

I suppose it is no great news that during the past few decades, scholarship and criticism in the immense field of medieval literature have been moving with unusual speed. Within this general awakening, it is worth asking what has been the effect, if any, on interpretation of Dante's Commedia. Surely no one can accuse past Dante scholars of a failure to explore unfrequented corners of medieval knowledge; and even allowing for the preoccupation of earlier generations with Dante's political message, it is obvious that the recent revival of interest in the theological allegory of the Middle Ages cannot have come to Dantists as the complete surprise that it often did to others. If there is truth in these rather easy generalizations, it may well be asked whether contemporary scholarship can find anything new and important to add to our understanding of the Commedia; and if so, how we are to go about finding it.

Re-embodying Syrinx in the ancient Peloponnese and French colonial Belle Époque: Investigating bodily change associated with sexual assault

“… 3. Later interpretations of Syrinx (Dante, 2007; Mourey, 1913; Theobald, 1718) symbolised Syrinx’ relations with Pan in ways that embodied the beliefs, ideologies and desires of each literary movement or epoch. For a discussion of Syrinx’ morality in Dante, see Kaske (1974). For the late nineteenth century examples, see what Arthur Symons termed the ‘Decadent Movement in Literature’ (2014: xi). …”