Department of French and Italian Studies

Seven centuries after it first circulated among elite readers in northern Italy, Dante Alighieri's Commedia — the Divine Comedy — continues to speak to readers across languages, cultures, and centuries. What keeps it alive? That is precisely the question this course sets out to answer.

We begin with La vita nova (c. 1293–94), the early work in which Dante first forged his poetic voice, before plunging into the Inferno (c. 1306–09) — the first and most visceral of the Commedia's three canticles. At every turn, Dante stages a restless struggle between personal longing, civic duty, Christian faith, and the raw power of the body. His unprecedented fusion of these forces is what made the poem extraordinary in his own time — and what keeps it urgent in ours.

Alongside close readings of the poetry, we will explore how Dante's work has been translated, interpreted, and reimagined across different eras and media — asking, as Italo Calvino once did, why it has "not finished saying what it has to say."

Language: Taught in English. Assessments: Midterm, 2 essays, digital project. Credit: Dist:LIT · WCult:W · NRO eligible. Cross-listed:REL 32.02. 

Students taking the course for major or minor credit will attend a weekly X-hour and write both essays in Italian. Please note that courses receiving an NRO grade may not fulfill major requirements.