| The history of illustrations on and textual interpretations of Dante is rich and varied, and bespeaks of Dante’s power to serve as a metaphor for interpretive challenges in new times. Rodin’s visual interpretation of Dante’s sublime moment in the Commedia is a rewriting of Dante, a translation, molded to Rodin’s own vision. This is a phenomenon in itself, one we will spend time pondering regarding Dante’s translation of classical and early Christian writings into his text, and our own modern relationship in English to the Commedia of the 14th century. The critic Mariá Rosa Menocal writes in Writing in Dante's Cult of Truth that Dante and his work consistently appear as a powerful cipher for critical interpretation in works European and American, old and new.
The links you see on the above right will connect you to discrete issues that interpreters of Dante have grappled with in their rewritings of his classic text. You will also encounter intellectual challenges for yourself regarding Dante's ethical dilemmas and be able to grapple then with them online.
|
