Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

Escape from Paradise “Found” Letter From Dante’s Beatrice to Petrarch’s Laura, Sante Matteo (2021)

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This “found” letter drafted by Sante Matteo recounts the story of Beatrice Portinari’s faked death in Florence and reestablishment as a different woman in Venice. The letter acts as Beatrice’s advice to Petrarch’s muse Laura on “how to deal with the consequences of being made the object of love poetry” (Contributor Sante Matteo). Throughout the text, various references are made to Dante, the Divine Comedy, and other poetic and literary works written by Dante.

The following is an excerpt from the letter explaining Beatrice’s identity:

“Before escaping from Florence, I was Beatrice Portinari. Yes, the Beatrice made famous by Dante Alighieri.  I’m told that his poetry is well known in Avignon because of the community of Florentine expatriates who live there. . . If you do know the Commedia, you will know me as Dante’s guide from Purgatorio through Paradiso.” [. . .]    –Sante Matteo, Twelve Winters Journal

For the full content of the letter, visit Twelve Winters journal here.

Contributed by Sante Matteo

Katherine Powlesland, Narrative Strategies for Participation in Dante’s Divine Comedy (2021)

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videogame-theory-in-katherine-powleslands-narrative-strategies-for-participation-in-dantes-divine-comedy-2021“Katherine Powlesland’s new book Narrative Strategies for Participation in Dante’s Divine Comedy, which will be Italian Perspectives 53, brings an entirely new angle to Dante studies. This is a bold claim, given that Dante studies is enjoying its 700th anniversary this year, but Katherine is bringing to bear theories from cognitive neuroscience and from the critical study of videogames, so I think we can be fairly sure that the medieval scholiasts did not get there before her. But there is a certain affinity between the desire of modern game writers, and the desire of 13th-century epic poets, to enmesh their readers in a participatory experience.

“An immersive game today, or a text like the Divine Comedy or the Roman de la Rose, very much want the reader to experience for herself: to be in that wood, to find her way around that wall, to look into that mirror-like pool with her own eyes. Katherine sees both media as governed by mechanics of narrative participation.” [. . .]    –“Bringing Video Game Theory to Dante,” Modern Humanities Research Association, June 27, 2021

The book will be released in 2022. See more information about it, in particular a discussion of its cover art, here.

“Kindred Spirits: A Juxtaposition of Dante & Dickens”

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dante-and-scrooge“. . . I cannot recall a time when I didn’t know the story of A Christmas Carol. The images and themes have delighted or haunted me since my childhood, either in the form of the ‘Dickens Village’ adventure at the mall or the hundredth or so viewing of the Muppet version. (Michael Caine, you will always be my Scrooge.) So when I studied Dante’s Commedia in college, it was no leap for me to recognize the countless similarities between the two stories. I would write C.C. in the margin every time I came across another bit of Dickens in Dante. At long last, I can pitch some these ideas to the wider world.”     –Kathyrn (blogger), Through a Glass Brightly, December 18, 2013

Contributed by Patrick Molloy

How to Cite

Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

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