This course explores Dante’s Divine Comedy from both a historical and literary perspective.
In this poetic narrative of his imaginary guided pilgrimage through the Christian afterlife, Dante creates an unforgettable gallery of characters and addresses a host of concerns that are both universal and particular, timely and timeless. His brilliant synthesis of the biblical and classical tradition has helped form the basis for Western writers ever since.
These lectures provide invaluable background information on Dante’s life and times, on why he wrote the Divine Comedy, on how to approach the various English editions available, and on many of the poem’s most important characters and episodes.