In fall 2024, the Italian program is offering a class on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, which examines Dante's masterpiece through textual readings and the exploration of the Comedy's visual representations.

From manuscript sources to Botticelli, from Doré to Blake to Flaxman, from Guttuso to Birk, from comics to cinema to video games, the course allows students to navigate Dante's journey from the dark wood of error to the vision of truth as a visual and sensorial experience. Modern reproductions and interpretations of the work are used to expose students to the continuing appeal of the Divine Comedy in our own era across time, geography and media.

The course investigates selected cantos from Inferno, as well as some from Purgatorio and Paradiso that bring into focus the history and culture of the medieval world, the historical and political context in which Dante worked and the poetic and cultural traditions that influenced him.

Relatedly, we will investigate the value of literary adaptations and attempt to answer such questions as: how is Dante' Divine Comedy being translated, adapted or illustrated in the new context? What aspects of the poem are highlighted, and which are downplayed? How can Dante's text have a global artistic appeal beyond Italy? Students will also participate in the installation of an exhibit on Dante's items preserved at the U of A's Special Collections and will be exposed to lectures on cutting-edge scholarship of Dante.

The course is offered in English from 4:35-6:56 p.m. Wednesdays, and counts for the Italian major and minor, for the Medieval and Renaissance Studies program requirements, and is open to graduate and undergraduate students (ITAL 41203-001 / ITAL 51203-001 / ENGL 47103-002 / ENGL 51703-004 / MRST 30203-001 / WLLC 5750V-006).

For questions, please contact Daniela D'Eugenio at deugeni@uark.edu.