Walking With Dante

There's much more to be said about this problem of up, down, and spin after Dante the pilgim and Virgil pass the center of the earth.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explore this problem: the world upside-down and the enforced rereading of INFERNO to turn it into COMEDY, the dominant form of Western civilization.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:28] Once more, a reading of my English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 70 - 93. If you'd like to print it off, read along, or drop a comment, you can find this text on my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:25] Dantista John Freccero's notion of the universe's spin via Aristotle.[04:36] Dante's notion of global geography: Jerusalem and Mount Purgatory at opposite sides of the globe from each other.[08:36] Dante flips the globe itself on his journey.[09:49] Where is the dark wood in INFERNO, Canto I?[11:32] All the left turns are really right turns and the two right turns are "really" left turns--which is how INFERNO becomes COMEDY.

We've seen it all. Now we just have to get out. And to do that, we have to make a big turnaround on Virgil's shoulders. Right at Satan's butt.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we pass the center point in the universe, a place where the action of grace suddenly comes into focus. Satan is the way out of hell. Satan is the pivot for the entire universe. The way down has been the way up all along.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:38] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 70 - 93. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:18] What is Dante-the-pilgrim's motivation? How does he know to grab on to Virgil?[05:25] Virgil is the only one who can get them out of hell. Is that thematic? Part of the poetics? Or the theology?[06:43] Dante-the-pilgrim never touches Satan. Is that thematic? Part of the allegory? Why can Virgil touch Satan?[08:14] Satan is not held in place by the ice sheet of Cocytus.[09:12] Satan is very anatomical, almost a cut of meat.[11:13] Satan's anus is the center of the universe. Or maybe his genitals.[13:12] Does Satan need a digestive tract?[15:22] Do Satan and the angels need genitals?[18:10] Dante-the-pilgrim is confused about Satan's directionality but never about Virgil's.[20:12] This passage echoes the descent on Geryon's back in its rhyme at the same spot (lines 82 and 84).[22:27] Satan is now upside down--and named with his Christian title for the first time.[24:08] Why is Dante-the-poet irritated at those who don't get it? The beginning of reason and the intellect![27:08] The three instances of "felix culpa" (fortunate fall) in this passage: Satan is the way out, Satan is the axis for the universe, and the way down has been the way up all along.

We've come to our last moments in hell. Here, our pilgrim Dante sees the three worst sinners in human history: Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius.Wait . . . what? Brutus and Cassius. Indeed, being gnashed by Satan at the center of the earth.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk through this difficult passage and try to figure out its many tricky implications . . . and its little bit of bawdy humor. This is Dante, after all.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:23] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 46 - 69. If you'd like to print it off, read along, or drop a comment, please go to my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:53] Satan as a seraph without flight, or as a bird without flight.[05:59] Satan as a sailing vessel without motion.[08:05] Satan as a bat, the fourth image--a strange, neither-here-nor-there creature in medieval mythology.[10:46] Satan's billowing wings.[12:39] Our last glimpse of hell.[13:15] Satan's wind as the first (of many) "felix culpa" (or "fortunate fall") in Canto XXXIV.[15:09] Satan's weeping and gnashing: a traditional Christian notion of hell's torments.[17:57] Satan's tears and blood as a perversion of the crucifixion of Jesus and/or a cross-reference to the Old Man of Crete.[19:21] The first sinner in his mouths: Judas Iscariot.[20:58] A pastoral image at the bottom of hell and in the face(s) of Satan.[21:49] Satan as an inversion of the eucharist (along with a butt joke).[23:15] Judas and the allegory of the human spine.[29:28] The second sinner in his mouths: Brutus.[32:30] The third sinner in this mouths: Cassius.[34:14] Treachery against God = treachery against the church AND against the state.[36:27] The journey through hell took one day.[37:28] "For we have seen all there is to see."[39:05] Rereading this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 46 - 69.

Dante the pilgrim has seen the final vision of INFERNO: Satan, looked in the ice sheet of Cocytus. Perhaps it's wise to step back and think about where this figure of Satan comes from--and how it exists as a concept in Dante's day.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I try to clear away modern notions of Satan to see what's so unusual about Dante's portrayal.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:20] The origins of Satan from Hebraic traditions.[05:26] Two spots where Christian theologians alter the interpretation of the Hebraic texts.[07:47] Satan's appearance in the stories of the life of Jesus.[10:06] The medieval notion of Satan as a comic figure, an easy dupe for saints.[11:10] The growing heresy of dualism, of Satan as an equal to God in some way.[12:56] The problem of neo-Platonic thought in Christian theology.[14:45] Try to draw a line between medieval notions of Satan and post-Reformation or even modern notions of this figure.

We're about to get a good look at Satan, closer and closer, until we can see the color of his faces. Yes, faces. Three of them. Some trinitarian perversion lies at the center of the universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk up to Satan with Dante, our pilgrim, and Virgil, his guide. We're nearing the end of the infernal landscape. And we're finding out what will replace it: awe.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:25] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 28 - 45. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:15] The relationship between this vision of Satan and the one in the Baptistry mosaics in Florence.[05:21] Satan as a most ineffective emperor.[06:57] Satan's size: the bedevilment of Dantistas for centuries.[09:16] The sheer hollowness of the earth--or the center of the universe.[10:18] Satan's beauty and apparently his very minor rebellion.[11:53] Fear gone, marvel or wonder ahead.[14:33] The heresy in the passage: Satan as the source of anything.[16:35] The many interpretations of the colors of Satan's three faces.

This episode is an interpolated one in the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE. We've just gone beyond the last of the seven direct addresses to the reader in INFERNO. Let's look back over all seven of them to discover what sort of reader Dante imagines for his poem and what Dante wants out of that reader.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:15] The direct addresses to the reader tell us what sort of reader the poet wants and even imagines for his work.[02:09] The first direct address: INFERNO, Canto VIII, lines 94 - 96.[06:00] The second direct address: INFERNO, Canto IX, lines 61 - 63.[10:38] The third direct address: INFERNO, Canto XVI, lines 127 - 132.[13:58] The fourth direct address: INFERNO, Canto XX, lines 19 - 24.[17:19] The fifth direct address: INFERNO, Canto XXII, line 118.[20:22] The sixth direct address: INFERNO, Canto XXV, lines 46 - 48.[22:41] The seventh direct address: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 22 - 27.

We've come to the final revelation of INFERNO, to its climax: the vision of Satan himself, called "Dis" by Virgil (after his own king of the underworld in THE AENEID).The emperor of the kingdom of woe scares the lights out of the pilgrim--and out of the poet. Our final revelation may well be that the poet has gone as far as he can with his infernal poetics. Now he must find new words to express what's ahead.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:28] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 1 - 27. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:31] Satan is at the center of the universe and at the farthest point from God.[07:39] You can never say, "The devil made me do it."[10:12] Virgil begins Canto XXXIV with an infernal twist on a Lenten Latin hymn.[12:33] Why hasn't Virgil been speaking in Latin all along?[13:34] What is Virgil doing with this Latin hymn? Is he praising his own king? Or is he making fun of Christ?[14:56] There are seven Latin words or phrases in INFERNO.[17:30] Satan is merely structure: an edifice.[19:19] The pilgrim and poet are starting to fuse in the face of the vision of Satan.[19:58] The damned are fully frozen in ice, a place of great silence.[20:49] Canto XXXIV has many resonances with the neutrals in Canto III.[22:12] The imagery of Satan is based on a Christian interpretation from a passage in the prophecies of Isaiah.[25:13] The pilgrim is frozen--thus in tune with the landscape and maybe with the damned as well.[26:48] What does "both dead and alive" mean? Four hypotheses.[32:21] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 1 - 27.

We've come to the last sinner who speaks in INFERNO. And his story is as wild as it gets. He claims that once someone violates the guest/host relationship, their soul exits their body and falls into the ice sheet at the center of the earth. Their body is then made into a puppet for a demon.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk through the third ring of Cocytus, Ptolomea, out on the ice sheet of the ninth circle of Dante's INFERNO. It's one last imaginative blast before the final revelation of INFERNO.Here are the segments for this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:50] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 118 - 157. If you'd like to read along, print it off, make notes, or drop comments, please find it on my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[05:37] Brother Alberigo clearly wants to be known.[07:02] Who is Brother Alberigo as a historical figure?[09:52] Why is Brother Alberigo here when he's still alive?[11:09] What's the deal with the dates and figs?[12:09] Who is Branca Doria?[14:26] Branca Doria actually outlived the poet Dante![15:34] The artistic problem with so much emphasis on the historical identities of the characters in COMEDY.[18:06] What does "Ptolomea" mean, this third ring of Cocytus, the ninth circle of hell?[20:52] Theology in the passage: first (strangely) a reference to Atropos.[21:50] Theology in the passage: the guest/host relationship.[26:30] Theology in the passage: zombies![28:58] The condemnation of Genoa as the last of a list of condemnations of central Italian city-states.[33:32] What is justice in this passage?[36:11] I don't need Saint Dante. I need a great poet.[38:27] Rereading the entire journey across Ptolomea: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 91 - 157.

We've slipped on down to the third ring of Cocytus--where we find a few textual problems, more New Testament references, the return of Virgil for no good reason, and a possible slip from our poet. Hey, it's slick down here!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we near the end of INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, passing on from Count Ugolino (sort of--one last glance) and toward the last speaking damned soul in all of INFERNO.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:27] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 91 - 117. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, just go to my website: <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:37] One last glance at Count Ugolino and his sons: a question about Dante's own rage in exile away from his own children.[07:36] The return to the journey, here to a landscape with the damned as the only "geographical" markers.[10:07] A translation problem about how the damned are actually facing in this third ring of the ninth circle, Cocytus.[12:56] Why's in your eye? A reference to the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 7:3.[15:07] Yet another New Testament reference--perhaps to Acts 2:3--but a deeper problem of exactly what the pilgrim Dante knows (and whether the poet Dante has made a gaffe).[18:13] The medieval understanding of how wind happens.[19:32] The return of Virgil--to tell you we don't need Virgil![21:35] The last of the damned who speaks in hell--and here, asks for help.[25:19] The damned soul asks for a kindness from a traveler on the road.[27:17] Dante makes a coy or arch or false promise. So is he becoming more like God?

Our final episode on Count Ugolino! Yet there's so much left to say. We're going to have to pass on from this ghastly damned soul and let him return to his savage meal of Archbishop Ruggieri's brain.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I add on the condemnation of Pisa and try to come to terms one last time with this overwhelming figure from the COMEDY, a rival to Ulysses and Francesca in the amount of scholarly ink that has been spilled on their speeches.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:43] The passage one more time, but now through its conclusion: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 1 - 90. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[08:45] Ugolino points out Ruggieri as the traitor--and not himself![10:37] Ugolino is a master manipulator.[13:04] Ugolino breaks his narrative to 1) absolve himself and 2) aggrandize himself.[16:16] Ugolino breaks his narrative and shows his self-doubt, his humanity, as narcissists often do.[19:05] Ugolino is a bad father, not because he doesn't comfort his sons, but because he turns to silence when he should be helping them pray to prepare for their deaths.[22:29] Everyone debates why Ugolino is in hell, but why exactly is Archbishop Ruggieri in hell?[25:25] Ugolino's dream anticipates the dream sequences in PURGATORIO.[26:35] How can all Pisans deserve death if evil is an individual's choice?[28:49] The condemnation of Pisa is Dante's attempt to bring a deep ambivalence back under control.[32:44] Dante's rage is on full display at the end of Ugolino's monologue.

On first glance, Count Ugolino's speech appears to be quite secular. He even appeals to the earth, not God, to save him and his sons.In fact, Dante has woven an incredible tapestry of New Testament references together to make this monologue.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look over Ugolino's speech as both a parody and an affirmation of Jesus' teaching.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:59] What's about to happen in this podcast episode and a little bit about how the New Testament took shape.[04:56] Ugolino and Jesus' parable of the sower.[10:41] Ugolino and the irony of loving his neighbor.[15:09] Ugolino and the torn veil.[17:51] Ugolino's story as a parody of the eucharist.[20:25] Ugolino and the annunciation.[21:34] Ugolino and Jesus' parable of the persistent neighbor.[23:42] More on the parody of the eucharist in Ugolino's monologue.[25:24] Ugolino turns down the sacrifice (sacrament?).[26:16] Ugolino's secular plea in the middle of so many references to Jesus.[26:48] Gaddo's last words are an echo of Jesus' last words.[27:58] Ugolino's last line in the interpretive history of COMEDY.[30:25] One more reference: dogs and crumbs off the master's table.[33:29] Is Ugolino's fate what's gnawing the church?[35:12] The concentration of New Testament references anticipates our approach to Purgatory.

In the last episode of this podcast, we've looked at Count Ugolino's speech as a narrative arc, taking apart and looking at the ways both the poet Dante has changed the historical record and the details that may be too removed by time for us to see clearly.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we now situate the last great sinner of hell, Count Ugolino, inside the larger framework of Dante's INFERNO. Ugolino gets the longest speech in INFERNO. What's it doing here? How does it echo other parts of INFERNO? How does it sum up INFERNO?Giant questions with attempted answers--as always on this podcast. Here are the segments of this episode:[01:42] Once again, my English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 1 - 78. If you'd like to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[06:52] Here's a list of the seven great sinners of INFERNO: Francesca da Rimini, Farinata degli Uberti, Pier della Vigne, Brunetto Latini, Ulysses, Guido da Montefeltro, and Count Ugolino.[13:04] The great sinners convey dramatic stories, provoke profound ambivalences, and offer a deeper understanding of the human condition.[19:16] Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri as one of the three great pairs in INFERNO.[20:23] Echoes between Francesca da Rimini and Count Ugolino: the beginnings and endings of INFERNO.[23:15] Echoes among Francesca, Ugolino, and Aeneas: heroism or irony?[26:15] Echoes between Ciacco the glutton and Ugolino: the insanity of the damned, the trustworthiness of the damned.[29:40] Echoes between Filippo Argenti and Ugolino: the uses of rage.[30:56] Echoes between Farinata and Ugolino: the possibilities of peace.[34:54] Echoes between Cavalcante and Ugolino: where is my son?[36:31] The schismatics and Ugolino: the body in pain, the body in political strife.[38:46] Four possible reasons for Ugolino's placement in INFERNO: 1) as a test for the reader, 2) as a tragic figure of fallen humanity, 3) as a ravenous wolf who blocks the way (as in Canto 1), and 4) as a repeated strategy of moving from narrative clarity to interpretive murk.

We come upon the last great sinner of hell: Count Ugolino, frozen in the ice of Cocytus, munching on the brains of Archbishop Ruggieri.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the first of several episodes on Ugolino. His story won't allow us to forget him. And its place in COMEDY makes sure we'll keep talking about it over several episodes. And the last line he speaks will continue to bedevil Dante’s readers forever.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:38] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXIII, lines 1 - 78. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[08:20] Count Ugolino as a historical figure.[16:55] Close-reading Ugolino's monologue to fill in the details.[33:34] The famed last line: "That's when fasting had more power than grief."

Dante the pilgrim and silent Virgil lead us to the most disgusting scene in all of INFERNO as one sinner munches on the skull and brains of another.This scene is the setup at the end of INFERNO, Canto XXXII for the last great sinner of hell, a figure no one ever forgets.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at some of the kinks in this opening passage and start a discussion of the nature of Dante's art: polyphony.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:10] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 124 - 139. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:07] The double simile in the passage as a function of the doubling throughout the last circle of INFERNO.[06:03] More about Thebes and a possible turn to Statius as a primary source.[09:34] A passing reference to St. Paul's letter to the Galatian church (Galatians 5:15).[11:03] The problems in Dante's pact with this sinner and the promise of payback.[12:17] The last line of Canto XXXII: an interpretive crux for 700 years.[15:25] The last line of Canto XXXII: an expression of the canto’s overall structure.[17:45] Dante as a polyphonic poet.

Dante the pilgrim has come across an infamous traitor on the ice sheet of Cocytus in the ninth ring of hell. Here in Antenora, the second sub-ring of the bottom of the everything, Dante finds the guy he and many others blame for the troubles of central Italy.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the second half of this conversation with one of the most despicable sinners in Dante's universe. The last episode began this moment in INFERNO. This episode finishes it off.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:36] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 103 - 123. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:36] Bocca degli Abati, the great Guelph traitor who caused the slaughter of so many Guelphs at the battle of Montaperti in 1260.[09:44] Bocca's characterization in the passage: 1) sneering, 2) snitching, and 3) still trying to be in control.[13:15] The list of others traitors in Antenora: Buoso da Duera, Tesauro de' Beccheria, Gianni de' Soldanieri, Ganelon, and Tebaldello Zambrasi.[20:13] Dante the pilgrim as a devil in hell.[21:57] The incredibly tight parallelism of INFERNO, Canto XXXII.[23:35] Is INFERNO, Canto XXXII successful or clumsy?[28:53] Rereading Antenora: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 70 - 123.

We're nearing the center of the universe, a place where we can feel the weight of everything bearing down on us.Our pilgrim is showing the strain. Violent. Erratic. Our poet, too. Trying to convince us he really took this journey.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk with Dante and (silent!) Virgil across the final ice sheet of hell, the ninth circle, into Antenora, the realm of those who've been treacherous to their own political parties or countries (or even literary forefathers).Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:48] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 70 - 102. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:27] Two problems: I've divided a single passage into two parts for this podcast and we must make many inferences to make any of these passages make sense.[06:26] Three translation problems: "cagnazzi," "gravezza," and "se fossi vivo."[15:26] The poet appears in the passage--and predicts his own future, based on the reality of this journey.[18:05] Why is this passage so violent? Three answers: 1) the pilgrim's progress (the traditional answer), 2) the poet's frustration, or 3) COMEDY's structure as a series of interlocking and bracketed events and situations which do not offer linear development.[26:28] The pilgrim is keeping notes, thereby further asserting the "realism" of the journey.[30:10] Antenora: the second sub-ring of Cocytus, named for a Trojan traitor, Antenor.[34:24] Dante is being a traitor to his literary party, too.

We've come a long way down into INFERNO and we'already passed dozens, even hundreds of similes. (It all depends on how you count them.)This podcast episode is an interpolated one in our slow-walk across Dante's masterwork COMEDY. Here, I'd like to look at the six basic types of similes Dante has used to craft his work (so far).Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this admittedly literary episode of WALKING WITH DANTE. Are these the only types of similes Dante uses? Of course not! But they're a good start to a larger discussion about this classic and classical poetic technique.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:55] Similes used to describe Dante the pilgrim's inner, emotional landscape.[08:31] Derived, balanced, and highly crafted similes from various literary traditions and classical authors.[15:43] Simple similes to describe complex, external, imaginative environments.[22:40] Ironic, discordant similes toward the bottom of INFERNO.[28:49] The beginning of metaphysical similes that will become more prominent in the next two canticles, perhaps a development of the similes about the pilgrim's emotional inner landscapes.[31:23] The misguided, mismatched, almost "red herring" similes of lower hell.

We've come to the first subset of the last circle of INFERNO, the pit of hell, an ice sheet that start with Caïna, which holds those who've offed family members, mostly for land or money. These guys are frozen solid to their necks, the heads bent down to let their tears spill onto the ice.They're a nasty lot, although one of the damned can't help but speak up. He proves both a snitch and strangely reticent. A poor storyteller, really, who just wants to get back to his misery.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at a pack of traitors who've killed family members for land or money (or power) in this nightmarish subset of hell which is actually controlled by the shadow of another sinner, someone far above us in the circles of INFERNO.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:40] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 40 - 69. If you want to read along, print it off, or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:26] Disorientation (and focus) as one of the thematics of the ninth circle of hell.[08:49] A frozen, infernal parody of a brotherly kiss of affection (or maybe even the liturgical kiss of peace).[13:42] Dante's strange (and perhaps unnecessary?) interest in the damned, expressed by their physicality.[16:50] The traitor's question invokes a larger one about how Dante the poet and/or the pilgrim is mirrored here.[20:15] The last fifteen lines of this passage--first, a quick reading with the details filled in.[23:34] Caïna: unpacking the name of the first subcircle of the ninth circle.[25:47] Unpacking the characters in this passage: Alessandro and Napoleone degli Alberti, Modred, Focaccia (or Vanni dei Cancellieri), Sassol Mascheroni, Camicione de' Pazzi, and Carlino de' Pazzi.[35:01] Reasons for the (mostly) obsessive regionalism of this passage: the locale and time (mostly) in which Dante lived.[40:33] Francesca's control of this passage from way up above in Canto V.

We start our trek with the pilgrim Dante and his guide Virgil across the final, ninth circle of hell, an unforgiving ice sheet, where we encounter disembodied voices, questions about perspective, pastoral imagery, and some puzzling questions about how it all works.Dante’s imagination is mechanical and full. But even he nods once in a while. Maybe a couple of times in this passage, in fact. But not in its overall effect: a nightmare of frozen bodies at the center of the universe.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:17] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXII, lines 16 - 39. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:20] What does it mean that Dante and Virgil are "well below the feet of the giants"?[06:00] Who says "watch out"? Why are these lines of dialogue unassigned?[10:17] The final ring of hell is not a lake of fire, but a lake of ice, made from the rivers of hell. But there's an interesting problem here! Dante may have nodded off and forgotten some details.[15:07] Dante bring "local" geography to the last circle of hell, furthering the complex irony in the passage.[18:08] How does Dante know about Cocytus?[21:15] We get pastoral glimpses inside the terror of the final ice sheet.[24:10] The damned use a language denied to Dante the poet.[25:31] Cocytus is a noisy place![26:22] The final revelation is that the endpoint of evil is immobility.

We've come to the ninth circle of hell. But not quite yet. Dante opens Inferno, Canto XXXII with a metapoetic moment, a passage in which he talks about the limits of the very form he's using to craft these verses.He offers up his second invocation of the poem and finds himself at a place of despair as an artist--the very same emotional landscape that makes up the last circle of hell.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:17] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXXII, Lines 1 - 15. You can find this translation on my website, read along, or even drop a comment about this episode at <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:12] We enter Canto XXXII with Dante the poet, not the pilgrim--and come into the one canto in all of INFERNO in which Virgil doesn't say a word. Why? Here are some possible reasons for Virgil's silence.[07:19] We begin, not with the limits of rhyme, but with the limits of poetry itself, perhaps the very form Dante has created. Those limits bring the poet to despair--which is precisely the emotional landscape of the last circle of hell.[14:40] We have come to the very center of the Ptolemaic universe, which includes the depths of sin and baby talk.[18:58] The center of the universe also looks a lot like Thebes, the ultimate city of ruin.[20:51] At the start of the ninth circle of hell, Dante offers his second invocation of COMEDY to aid him in building this final fortress of hell.[25:02] Dante invokes a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew: At the last judgment, the Son of Man will divide the sheep from the goats. Get ready for the goats.[29:41] The poet's frustrations will get worked out through the pilgrim's actions in Inferno, Canto XXXII.[31:34] Brunetto Latini claimed that rhetoric makes civilization possible. Here we are among the destroyers of civilization. And of rhetoric, too?

We've walked with Dante the pilgrim and his guide, Virgil, to the very foundations of the universe, the ninth circle of hell, the bottom of all that is.All that blather about Antaeus? He's not so bad. He's just a traitor to Satan's kingdom.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we get picked up and set down into the ninth circle of hell by a giant who almost bested Hercules, who seemed immune to Lucan's flattery, and who finally betrays his master and lets the invaders in.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[00:57] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 130 - 145. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[02:36] One more time back to Lucan's PHARSALIA--here, Hercules' defeat of Antaeus. Intriguingly, after all that flattery, here's a reference to the giant's failure (well, to Antaeus' momentary victory over Hercules before his final defeat).[09:08] The tower of Garisenda: bristling but ultimately hollow pride.[13:09] Who wishes he could have traveled by another road? Dante the pilgrim or Dante the poet?[15:06] A rare instance of the cliché of hell as an open mouth.[16:07] Antaeus turns from a tower into a ship's mast.[17:18] What's with the sheer number of similes and metaphors in INFERNO, Canto XXXI?[21:53] The terrible irony in that reference to Roland and Charlemagne.[25:00] A rereading of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 130 - 145.

Dante the pilgrim and Virgil walk on to find Antaeus, the unbound giant who can set them down on the floor of hell--otherwise known as the center of the earth.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch Virgil flail around, cite Lucan's PHARSALIA repeatedly, not get his way, and finally resort of a promise of Dante's own success to get what he needs.This passage is a wild ride of literary references. Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:47] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 112 - 129. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, go to my website, markscarbrough. com.[03:41] Are these giants Titans?[06:57] More accurate measurements (at least in a medieval context)--and some thoughts as to why precision becomes more important in lower hell.[11:09] Virgil flatters Antaeus first with three passages from Lucan's PHARSALIA. First up, Scipio's defeat of Hannibal in north Africa.[15:44] Virgil's third bit of flattery from the PHARSALIA: the Titans' war against the Olympian gods.[19:03] Virgil's SECOND bit of flattery: an embellished passage from the PHARSALIA.[20:10] Virgil cannot have read Lucan's PHARSALIA![21:52] Our first glimpse of the ninth circle of hell.[23:15] Unpacking the quick references to Tityus and Typhon.[25:33] Virgil's failed flattery turns to Dante's poetic hopes.[27:42] Virgil is at a disadvantage here, unlike when he spoke to Ulysses.[31:34] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 112 - 129.

We've walked by one giant, Nimrod, a mighty hunter, with his horn (like Roland). But there are more. Three, at least. Ephialtes, Briareus, and Antaeus. Figures out of classical literature who sit at the bottom of hell and pose more theological questions than we can imagine.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we continue on into Inferno's Canto XXXI, a liminal space where all bets are off. Even theological ones. And especially literary ones.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:35] My English translation of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 82 - 111. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go out to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com.">markscarbrough.com.</a>[03:53] The insistence on turning to the left--except twice when we've turned to the right.[06:07] The curious insistence on measurable distances in lower hell.[09:26] Three giants ahead. First up, Ephialtes.[13:52] Jove? He threatened Jove? Why not God?[14:14] Next up, Briareus.[16:48] Finally, Antaeus.[18:43] The theological riddle in this passage: Antaeus' position in hell. Was he just made bad?[22:08] Virgil and The Aeneid: back to rewriting it.[24:36] Shaking Ephialtes for reasons that are not clear, except he's still a tower.[27:16] The question of the stakes in Canto XXXI.[29:12] Liminal spaces and the question of authority.[30:37] Rereading INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 82 - 111.

Dante the pilgrim thought he saw towers in the gap between the eighth and ninth circles of hell. But no, they were giants. Who were "entowered" in the pit.And now we come to the first one: Nimrod. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we come up to the first of the giants/towers that ring the final pit of hell, a place where the imagination and history meet in a liminal spot and where all bets are off.Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:00] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 46 - 81. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[04:59] Nimrod as he appears in the Bible.[06:52] Nimrod as he moves into Christian mythology.[10:41] Nimrod as he moved beyond Christian mythology.[12:42] Nimrod and the confusing nature of the Tower of Babel.[15:49] Nimrod's garbled speech. Hebrew? Arabic? Pentecostal tongues?[19:31] Three reversals in this passage: Biblical material in place of classical material, Nimrod as a piece of art from St. Peter's, and Nimrod as Roland, the tragic hero of chivalry.[25:25] Four curiosities in this passage: "nature" v. the creator, fig leaves, Frisians, and Virgil's direct address to Nimrod.[33:30] Fictional space as liminal space.[37:25] Rereading INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 46 - 81.

Virgil has promised Dante the pilgrim clarity if they press on toward the ring of towers ahead. But then maybe they don't need to, since Virgil explains it all anyway. And even after he explains it, Dante the poet insists on the illusion of towers.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the further journey in Canto XXXI, the liminal spot between the eighth and ninth circles of INFERNO. This is a canto of reversals, one in which the poet Dante is determined to remind us continually of his poetic art.Here are the segments for this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:35] My English translation of the passage: Inferno, Canto XXXI, lines 28 - 45. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment, please go to my website, <a href="markscarbrough.com">markscarbrough.com</a>.[03:18] Virgil's affection: another reversal in Canto XXXI.[06:39] A commonplace simile after two very learned similes or classical references.[09:38] Promised clarity, delivered fear, and the insistence on illusion.[13:26] Monteriggioni, its towers, and treachery against the Holy Roman Empire.[16:28] INFERNO itself as a liminal space--that is, the threshold between the classical and Christian worlds.[24:50] Rereading the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 28 - 45.