Why the Angels Speak Italian: Dante as Vernacular Poeta in Paradiso XXV

Brownlee, Kevin

doi:10.2307/1772382

Cited by 43 publications

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“…Note 56. See Brownlee (1984); it may not be too far-fetched to imagine that, in the context, the ''te'' of ''Sperent in te'' could be Dante just as well as the Lord! 57.…”

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Dante’s claims in and around Paradiso 25

Pertile

2021

Forum Italicum: A Journal of Italian Studies

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The extraordinary claims that Dante makes in cantos 24–26 of Paradiso with regard to both his theoretical knowledge and his actual ‘possession’ of the three theological virtues – Faith, Hope and Charity – do not seem to be entirely consistent with the story of a character who, only a few days earlier, was struggling in the dark forest and about to succumb to intellectual bewilderment and moral straying. Why else was that character so close to spiritual death if not because he lacked those virtues which he now claims to know so profoundly and hold in supreme measure? This paper argues first, that Dante here transcends any distinction that may operate elsewhere in the poem between Dante as character, narrator and author; second, that his claims make sense in the context of his circumstances at the time when he composed cantos 24–26 of Paradiso, i.e. on or just before 1320, twenty years after the fictional date of his journey to the Otherworld; and third, that he is likely to have made such claims in order to preempt any attack on himself, his poem and his mission as theologian, prophet and reformer of the Church.

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“…Note 56. See Brownlee (1984); it may not be too far-fetched to imagine that, in the context, the ''te'' of ''Sperent in te'' could be Dante just as well as the Lord! 57.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…57. Pd 26.62-64;see Ascoli (2008: 374-77) and Brownlee (1984) who focuses specifically on the four choruses (24.112-14; 25.97-99; 26.67-69; 27.1-3). 58.…”

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Dante’s claims in and around Paradiso 25

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2021

Forum Italicum: A Journal of Italian Studies

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“…7, sections v-vi and see again n. 17 above. On aspects of this episode, see also(Brownlee 1984;Brownlee 1990); William Stephany, "Paradiso XXV," in "Dante's 'Divine Comedy'; Introductory Readings III: 'Paradiso'," a special issue of Lectura Dantis 16-17(Stephany 1995, pp. 371-88;Benfell 1992); Barolini, The Undivine Comedy, chp.…”

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Starring Dante

Ascoli

2019

Religions

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This essay offers an example of a guiding thread in my own research on and teaching of Dante’s Commedia. Specifically, I will follow a strand that leads us from Dante’s encounter with the “bella scola” of classical poets in Inferno Canto 4, through a key scene in the Purgatorio where Dante and his guide Virgil meet the late classical poet Statius, to the remarkable six-canto suite in the Heaven of the Stars, sign of Gemini, in which Dante-poet has Dante-character undergo a series doctrinal tests on the theological virtues. His successful response to the challenges posed by the apostles Peter, James, and Paul doubly authorizes him as poet and as Christian teacher of the highest order. These unique experiences as Dante is successively introduced to and made part of a rising series of elite groups, highlights his double role as humble student and prospective teacher of others. Among the various aims of this essay is to give a sample of a way in which teachers of the Commedia may address the perennial pedagogical problem of how to account for the extraordinary spectacle of a first-person epic that at once expresses deep piety with profound “charitas” (spiritual love) and appears as the absolute height of a self-aggrandizement seemingly inconsistent with Christian humility. Another is to suggest one possible strategy for teaching the Comedy as a whole, and especially the final canticle, the Paradiso, which even Dante himself notoriously thinks is “not for everyone”.

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Bridge Essay: Vernacularization and World Literature: The Language of Women in the World of God

Eisner¹

2019

A Companion to World Literature

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Given Dante's prominent place in discussions of vernacularization, this chapter reconsiders the substance of Dante's theories and their relationship to his poetic practice. It proposes an investigation of vernacularization that encompasses not only the choice to write in the vernacular but also the decision to transmit those works. Taking up Dante's definition of the vernacular as the language of women, it argues that while Dante can use the vernacular in the world of God, the interventions of other mediators (scribes, editors, commentators) are necessary for the work to survive across time and communicate to future generations.

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Why the Angels Speak Italian: Dante as Vernacular Poeta in Paradiso XXV

Cited by 43 publications

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Dante’s claims in and around Paradiso 25

Dante’s claims in and around Paradiso 25

Starring Dante

Bridge Essay: Vernacularization and World Literature: The Language of Women in the World of God

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