Winter 2008 Advance Course Information

This information effective for winter 2008. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Italian Literature

[LTIT 130]

130 Dante's Divine Comedy

Instructor: Professor Margaret Brose
Office:227 Cowell
Phone: 459-4575
E-mail: mbrose@ucsc.edu

Italian Literature 130, Dante's Divine Comedy
Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday
12:00 -1:45 p.m.
Stevenson 150

Held in conjunction with LPTR 183, Dante's Divine Comedy in Translation

Students who want credit in Italian Literature, Italian Studies, or Language Studies should enroll in LTIT 130 D. They will attend all the LTPR 183 lectures and a required weekly discussion section.  They will meet individually with the professor to select paper topics and to discuss critical essays in Italian. We use bilingual texts and students read Dante’s original Italian; their papers will analyze the original Italian text of the Divine Comedy, and use criticism written in Italian.

Discussion Sections: Required; TBA. There will be six discussion sections, all scheduled on Thursday afternoon, after 2:00 p.m. through Friday afternoon.

LTPR 183 satisfies the “Pre-1750” and the “Poetry” Literature Major requirements.

This course is required for Italian Studies and Language Studies students.

Lasciate Ogne Speranze Voi Ch' Intrate!

Leave Behind All Hope, Ye Who Enter!

LITPR 183/LTIT 103D will offer a close reading of the great Medieval literary work, the Divine Comedy, by the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri  (1265-1321). The Divine Comedy consists of three poetic books (each one called a “cantica”); one each devoted to the three great realms of the after-life: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante’s journey into the Inferno and Purgatory is guided by the Latin poet Virgil (author of the Aeneid); Beatrice, his beloved, will guide him through Paradise. We will focus on Dante as a love poet, a political poet, a poet writing in exile; we will examine thematic, generic, symbolic, and gender aspects of his work, within its literary and cultural context.

Dante (and we, his readers) awaken in the dark wood of Inferno. We know that we are lost, that we cannot ignore the "beasts" we encounter, but must acknowledge hopelessness, alienation, deceit, and betrayal within ourselves. We are overcome by suffering and a fear “so bitter it is close to death” (“Tant’è amara che poco è più morte.”). We will journey with Dante, struggling to understand the contemporary meaning his journey holds for us, as well as his journey’s significance within the Medieval political and religious context.

Above the gates of Hell is written:  “Leave behind all hope, ye who enter!” (“Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’ Intrate”). Read this Medieval classic epic and discover everything you ever wanted to know about sin and its punishments! Follow Dante as he is led by Virgil through Hell and Purgatory, and learn about lust, gluttony, anger, betrayal, sodomy, and things unspeakable. Ascend into Paradise and behold the rewards of the virtuous. Experience first hand this master of poetic imagery and verse; learn why Dante continues to influence so many writers and thinkers. Why does Dante put his mentors and teachers into Hell and Purgatory? Learn why we use the term “poetic justice” to describe Dante’s vivid representation of how the punishment fits the crime in a Hell which is always of our own making.

We use bilingual texts; course taught in English.
 
Recommended for upper-division students having completed Lit 1.

Readings:

Selections from Medieval Love Lyrics (Provençal, Old French, Italian);
The Vita Nuova, Dante’s youthful autobiography about his love for Beatrice;
Dante’s youthful erotic poems:
 “The Stony-poems” (not written for Beatrice!);
Dante’s Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and selections from Paradiso;
Virgil, Aeneid, Books 1-6;
St. Augustine, Confessions, selections;
Ovid, Metamorphoses, selected myths;
Selected critical essays

There will be several quest lecturers and presentations, slides and films.

Class requirements:

1. Faithful attendance at all lectures, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and at the weekly discussion section meetings.  More than 2 unexcused absences will lower your grade.
2. Two papers: one short (4-5 pages); and one longer (8-10) pages, with a research component (consultation and discussion of at least one critical essay).
3. Final examination, written.

For further information, contact Professor Margaret Brose
227 Cowell
Phone: 459-4575
E-mail: mbrose@ucsc.edu

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