Welcome
In this course, we will read one of the greatest achievements of Western culture, Dante’s Divine Comedy. Divided into three parts — Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory) and Paradiso (Heaven) — the Comedy is a voyage through the Christian afterlife that is universal and metaphorical, but also intensely personal and literal. We will read all of the Comedy, as well as looking at Dante’s world and the Comedy’s influence in the contemporary world. All works are in English, with the original Italian for majors and minors in Italian. Students will complete three writing assignments (one creative, two formal papers, 5-6 pp.)
Hours
T/Th 2:00-3:20
G30 FLB
Grades
Your grade will consist of attendance and participation (25%); and the writing assignments (3 x 25% = 75%). I reserve the right to add pop quizzes at any point if it appears that many students are not doing the reading (in which case, participation is 20%, quizzes are 20% and each writing assignment is 20%).
She lit a burner on the stove
And offered me a pipe
“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said
“You look like the silent type”
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin’ coal
Pourin’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul
From me to you
Tangled up in blue
"Tangled up in Blue"
—Bob Dylan