2021 Archives - Dante Today

“Dante died – why should we worry?”

October 27, 2021 By Hannah Raisner, FSU '25

“Dante Alighieri died on September 14, 700 years ago. You could ask why this should be noted; why it should be at all important? What follows is an attempt to answer that question. As I hope you will see, Dante is important; art is important; life must be examined.

[. . .]

“[A]lthough Boccaccio revered Dante, and Dante wrote in the Florentine vernacular, Dante Alighieri was different. He was from a slightly earlier generation. Boccaccio was just eight when Dante died. And the Commedia is completely a work of Dante’s imagination and his lived experience. It is not recycled stories. Yes, he draws on philosophical, and more importantly, theological concepts for his construction of Purgatorio (where Aquinas is important) Inferno and Paradiso, but the fabulous construction of the nether-world is his alone, and it is populated by historical figures or by Dante’s contemporaries. They all receive their punishment or reward according to his moral judgement of them as he journeys through Purgatory and Hell, first guided by Virgil, then – at last, in Paradise – by his platonic love and muse, Beatrice. Dante meets everyone and sees their torment, their equanimity or their reward.

The really important moral message of the Commedia, for me, is that actions matter. You will be judged, so try to do good. [. . .]” –James Parker, Forty South Tasmania, Sep. 30, 2021

James Parker is a Tasmanian historian and is the creator of the Van Diemen Decameron. Read his full essay here.

“Dante in Greece” Conference (Athens, 2021)

October 27, 2021 By Hannah Raisner, FSU '25

“The ‘Dante and Greece‘ International Conference is part of the vast programme of Dante celebrations put in place to mark the seven hundredth anniversary of the death of the Supreme Poet. This initiative is also inspired by the bicentenary of Greek independence (1821-2021) and promoted by the Italian Philhellenic Society and by other Italian, Greek and Cypriot institutions.

“One of the stages of the conference will be at the Italian Cultural Institute of Athens on 30 September. The conference will discuss the extraordinary influence that Dante has exerted and indeed still continues to exert on Greek and Cypriot literature, from Kavafis to Kazantzakis, from Sikelianòs to Prevelakis. Italian and international scholars will be taking part.

“At 8 pm Dante Night will begin, with a screening of ‘L’inferno di Dante‘, a silent film by Bertolini, de Liguori and Padovan (1911). The film will be accompanied by a musical performance featuring saxophone and live electronics by Marco Castelli, who composed the arrangements.

“The preview of the exhibition ‘Dante: l’immaginazione delle immagini‘ (Dante: The Imagination of Images) will follow. The Divine Comedy today: an artistic dialogue between Greek and Italian painters 700 years after the Poet’s death. The exhibition is curated by Konstantinos Moussas. —Italiana

For more information on the Convegno: Dante e la Grecia, see here.

“In cammino con Dante”: Istituto italiano di cultura di Istanbul

October 27, 2021 By Hannah Raisner, FSU '25

“L’Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Istanbul ha organizzato il ciclo di incontri online ‘In cammino con Dante,’ una serie di 8 di letture drammatizzate e critiche di canti scelti dalla Divina Commedia, con il patrocinio dell’Ambasciata d’Italia in Turchia e la collaborazione del Dipartimento di Lingue e Letteratura Italiana dell’Università di Ankara.

“L’iniziativa realizzata nel corso dell’anno, con cadenza mensile da aprile a dicembre 2021, fa parte del ricco programma di eventi per il 700 anniversario della morte di Dante Alighieri.” –Institute of Italian Culture, Istanbul

Dante’s HiFi in Miami

October 27, 2021 By Hannah Raisner, FSU '25

“Dante’s HiFi isn’t looking to be Miami’s next megaclub or — God forbid — another Tulum-inspired hot spot. Instead, its claim to fame is a more modest one: It’s the city’s first Japanese-style listening bar.

“For those unfamiliar with the concept, Japan’s listening bars are an audiophile’s dream — a place where you can sit down, drink, and feast your ears on the expertly curated playlist. The quality of the speakers, amps, turntables, and mixers are just as important as the cocktails being served. As Resident Advisor notes about the culture: ‘It’s rooted in the joy of discovering music and listening to that music in the best possible environment.’

“That means Dante’s is not the kind of place where the music is so loud that your only option is to dance on the furniture while bottle sparklers go off every five minutes. Here, you’re expected to sit down, speak in hushed tones, and, most importantly, listen.” – Jose D. Duran, Miami New Times, October 6, 2021

Notice the statue of Rodin’s Thinker (modeled after the poet) on the back wall!

Martin Kemp, Visions of Heaven: Dante and the Art of Divine Light (2021)

October 23, 2021 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

“In Visions of Heaven, renowned scholar Martin Kemp investigates Dante’s supreme vision of divine light and its implications for the visual artists who were the inheritors of Dante’s vision. The whole book may be regarded as a new Paragone (comparison), the debate that began in the Renaissance about which of the arts is superior. Dante’s ravishing accounts of divine light set painters the severest challenge, which took them centuries to meet. A major theme running through Dante’s Divine Comedy, particularly in its third book, the Paradiso, centres on Dante s acts of seeing (conducted according to optical rules with respect to the kind of visual experience that can be accomplished on earth) and the overwhelming of Dante s earthly senses by heavenly light, which does not obey his rules of earthly optics. [. . .] Published to coincide with the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, this hugely original book combines a close reading of Dante’s poetry with analysis of early optics and the art of the Renaissance and Baroque to create a fascinating, wide-ranging and visually exciting study.” — Amazon (retrieved October 18, 2021)

How to Cite