From the Gates of Hell to the City of the Damned @ Reading Dante in 2021
Details
Join us in reading the Divine Comedy by Dante.
During this session we will be discussing Inferno, Cantos I-XI which will take us on a daunting journey from being lost in the dark forest with Dante, to meeting our faithful guide Virgil and on to the harrowing vistas of the Underworld.
We strongly recommend that you read the book with us—you will get the most value from these Meetups if you do so. But, you are welcome even if you have not read the book.
For those of you joining us in the reading, you may read or listen to any translation you want. Here are two free translations available as text or audio books:
● Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1867): a very faithful translation:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy_(Longfellow_1867)
LibriVox audio recording: https://librivox.org/the-new-life-la-vita-nuova-by-dante-alighieri/
● Courtney Langdon (1918): in blank verse:
https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/alighieri-the-divine-comedy-in-3-vols-langdon-trans
LibvriVox audio recording: https://librivox.org/the-divine-comedy-version-2-dramatic-reading-by-dante-alighieri/
Here is a more modern translation from the Princeton Dante Project (Robert and Jean Hollander, 2000-2007): https://dante.princeton.edu/pdp/
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/5/c/f/e/highres_494243806.jpeg
Event Format:
- Introduction to the material by Phil & Doug
- Those who are reading the book get to share their thoughts about the assigned reading for that Meetup (see schedule below)
- Breakout rooms with 6-8 people each
- Takeaways and go around: Everybody can comment
- General discussion
Schedule:
6 Jan: Celebrate 700 Years of Dante
7 Feb: the Vita Nuova
7 Mar: Inferno 1-11
4 Apr: Inferno 12-22
2 May: Inferno 23-34
6 Jun: Purgatorio 1-11
11 Jul: Purgatorio 12-22
8 Aug: Purgatorio 23-33
12 Sep: Paradiso 1-11
10 Oct: Paradiso 12-22
7 Nov: Paradiso 22-33
5 Dec: Grand Finale: Reflecting on Dante's 7th Centennial
Watch videos of our past Dante events at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqpF1l8gdXlFtfXIcifetOBF2eof_-Qtb
This 19 minute video introduction to Dante by Giuseppe Mazzotta is very good: http://y2u.be/679FGDpZBew
CJ Fearnley's "Reading Dante in 2021" page (features a week-by-week reading guide and supplementary resources):
https://www.cjfearnley.com/Dante2021.html
52 Living Ideas will record this event and post it to YouTube. Feel free to keep your video on or off as you prefer.