The Daunting Problem Of This Sweet New Style: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 55 - 75

Dante the pilgrim has claimed that indeed he is the one who is inspired by love, who writes what love breathes into him and then makes meaning from that.Bongiunta is not finished with that discussion. Instead, he goes on to name this inspiration the "sweet new style" (or the "dolce stil novo"), thereby igniting over seven hundred years of commentary and controversy.And Bonagiunta himself seems to throw some fuel on that fire, given his apparent satisfaction with himself. And Dante the poet may add some fuel, too, given his citation of classical sources, hardly breathed-in inspiration.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this most daunting passage in all of PURGATORIO, striking near the heart of what Dante the poet believes he's doing . . . and what generations of critics and thinkers believe he's doing.If you'd like to help support this podcast, please consider a very small monthly stipend or a one-time donation through this PayPal link right here. Your contribution helps me pay the many fees associated with keeping this podcast going.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:48] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 55 - 75. If you'd like to read along or to continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:02] Bonagiunta's imaginative landscape: brothers and knots.[07:17] Bonagiunta's peers (or perhaps his school?): Giacomo da Lentini and Giuttone d'Arezzo.[11:41] The "sweet new style" and the taproot of Italian literature.[16:27] Problems with the "sweet new style": its membership, its final relationship to Bonagiunta, and its meaning sewn into the text over generations.[24:55] Two similes that comment on or even challenge this "sweet new style."[30:00] Forese's poignant question and its link to INFERNO X.[31:56] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 55 - 75.

After Forese Donati has pointed out five of the gluttons on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory, one of them, the first mentioned and a poet of the previous generation, keeps muttering something almost unintelligible under his breath.Our pilgrim asks him for more information. He then offers the pilgrim an oblique prophecy that has troubled Dante scholars for hundreds of years. He also asks if this pilgrim is the same guy who wrote a poem found in the VITA NUOVA.Dante replies that he is indeed that poet . . . and goes on to claim that his poetry is inspired by love itself.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we take on the first half of the single most annotated passage in all of Dante's COMEDY. We are getting to the heart of what Dante thinks he's doing with his poetry . . . but what exactly that is remains something of a mystery, or at least a scholarly debate.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:00] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 34 - 54. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[05:08] The value of paying attention: the pilgrim to Bonagiunta and Bonagiunta to Dante's poetry.[08:54] Bonagiunta's shifty murmurs of "gentucca."[11:51] An opaque prophecy about Lucca from an older poet who should know how to be clear.[17:13] Bonagiunta's refernce to a canzone (or long poetic song) from Dante's VITA NUOVA.[20:37] The pilgrim's wild claims for direct inspiration from . . . love (or maybe God).[27:02] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 34 - 54.

Forese Donati continues to answer Dante the pilgrim's questions by naming five penitent gluttons surrounding them on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory.As he points them out, Forese (and Dante the poet behind him) use culinary and gastronomical imagery to reinforce the themes of the terrace and perhaps to further fuel that long-standing feud between French and Italian cuisine.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we pick through the historical and cultural details in the second part of Forese's answer to the pilgrim.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:52] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 16 - 33. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:17] The deft use of culinary and gastronomic imagery in this passage.[06:40] Five penitent gluttons: Bonagiunta of Lucca, Pope Martin IV, Ubaldino della Pila, Boniface, and Master Marchese degli Orgogliosi.[17:12] A curiosity: It's not forbidden to name them?[19:16] Is this passage a false lead?[22:54] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 16 - 33.

PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, is set as a direct continuation from Canto XXIII. The poet Dante cues us to the continuation but there nevertheless are a couple of subtle disruptions.For one thing, Virgil has been silence for most of Canto XXIII and will indeed remain silent throughout Canto XXIV, his longest silence yet in COMEDY. We won’t hear anything from him until well into Canto XXV.And in this on-going conversation with Forese Donati, we get our first glimpse of Paradise, after curiously understanding that the human will is strong enough to slow down its progress even to that place, its ultimate goal.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the opening lines of our on-going time among the gluttons on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:49] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 1 - 15. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:12] Canto XXIV is a continuation of Canto XXIII--and Virgil remains silent.[06:33] The "redead" is a reference to Jude 12 in the New Testament.[10:49] Does Ulysses enter into this passage?[11:50] The human will can even slow down its ultimate desire, the central motivation of the universe.[14:15] Mentioning Piccarda Donati gives us a fuller glimpse of Paradise ahead . . . and a classical glimpse.[16:48] Pain and solace are the core of the prophetic voice.[21:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 1 - 15.

Forese Donati has finished his diatribe about Florentine women and is now ready to hear Dante the pilgrim's story. Who did the pilgrim get here in the flesh?The pilgrim retells the journey, renegotiating its opening and reconfiguring its theology, even this high up on the mountain, as we near the apocalyptic climax of PURGATORIO.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk slowly through this last passage in Canto XXIII.If you'd like to help support this podcast and underwrite its many fees, please consider a small stipend or a one-time donation at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:27] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 112 - 133. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with a comment, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:09] A V-shaped structure reinforced for Canto XXIII.[06:17] A question of what Forese should remember and how the opening of COMEDY should be understood.[10:20] Further negotiations about the plot of COMEDY.[14:22] The first time the pilgrim Dante names Beatrice and the first time he acknowledges the loss of Virgil.[16:09] A curious moment: Virgil named and Statius unnamed.[18:29] Two larger questions. One, COMEDY is a poem in process.[20:03] Two, PURGATORIO replicates the structure of the New Testament.[23:16] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 112 - 133.

Having praised his wife, Nella, Forese Donati launches into the prophetic voice, the new "high style" that Dante has developed, a screed with a lyrical undertow.This complicated poetic act can only be accomplished with the vernacular, with medieval Florentine (in Dante's case).And although it fuses with misogyny and xenophobia, it nonetheless demonstrates the Dante's new style beyond love sonnets: the lyrical, prophetic voice.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Forese Donati's condemnation of Florentine women and his wild launch into Isaiah's prophetic vision.If you'd like to help support this podcast, consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:40] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 91 - 111. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation via a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:50] As Forese launches into his misogynistic condemnation of Florentine women, he reaffirms his love for his wife, Nella, the "little widow."[08:42] Forese's prophetic discourse takes flight from a misogynistic and xenophobic platform.[11:29] Rising sumptuary laws indicate an increasingly fluid social structure, particularly for women.[15:02] Forese ends his screed at a high-style moment infused with Isaiah's prophecy (from Isaiah 7).[18:03] The prophetic discourse ends at a lyrical moment somehow still in this high style.[20:03] The vernacular is able to handle a greater emotional range than Latin in Dante's day.[23:40] Forese's prophecy never comes true--and incorporates a curious shadow of doubt.[26:23] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 91 - 111.

Dante the pilgrim and his rival/friend/fellow poet Forese Donati continue to talk about their concerns: suffering, placement on the mountain, and the role of the living in the service of the dead.Along the way, they seem to be coming closer and closer to the Christian idea of redemptive suffering, a complex stance in the face of the nihilism that almost overwhelms the suffering in INFERNO behind us.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore these problems, plus talk about Forese's wife, Nella, and the role of the vernacular in exploring and explaining the deepest truths.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:37] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, Lines 76 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for the episode of the podcast on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:17] The changing notion of suffering--yes, in COMEDY, but even in this small passage.[07:20] Accounting for time, souls, and their ascents on Mount Purgatory.[13:32] Nella Donati and two interpretive stances toward her place in the poem: 1) correcting the record or 2) hoping for a full record of a poet's works.[17:36] Vernacular language and its uncomfortable relationship with "higher" truths.[24:03] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 76 - 90.

Having met his poetic rival, Forese Donati, Dante the pilgrim must make sense of the clear and present pain he sees in friend's face.This passage is a curious example of felix culpa, the fortunate fall, in which suffering must be reinterpreted for the greater good. Except the pain doesn't stop being the pain. Suffering remains the central metaphysical question of the human condition, the experiential crux underneath our high-minded notions of ontology.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this conversation between two poetic rivals on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory among the emaciated gluttons.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:42] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 49 - 75. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:08] Best friends, still perhaps vain, still perhaps rivals.[10:39] A power in the water and the tree--and an intense interpretive knot.[14:56] The problem of hunger and thirst among disembodied souls.[18:50] The interpretation of suffering as the crux of being human.[26:15] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 49 - 75.

Dante now walks with the skeletal gluttons who have God's writing on their faces.Along the way, there are increasingly complex and almost gaming literary references that litter the text until Dante the pilgrim suddenly is recognized by a fellow, contemporary, vernacular poet who is not known for any high style but is instead a champion of a low, vulgar poetry in this hip, new form of the sonnet.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look into the mirror of an increasingly complex meta reality in COMEDY as Dante the pilgrim meets his friend and rival Forese Donati on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:22] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 28 - 48. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me in the comment section at the bottom of the page, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:23] Internal thoughts--less revelatory than just rehearsed--about the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE.[09:27] The potential blasphemy of the pelican in her piety.[12:50] Three references to other texts in increasing opacity: from Dante's VITA NUOVA, from Ovid's METAMORPHOSES, and from Josephus' history (sort of).[15:30] Starved enough to see God's writing in the human face: a felix culpa?[21:31] A misplaced tercet in COMEDY?[22:52] Forese Donati and Dante v. Statius and Virgil.[31:18] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 28 - 48.

Our pilgrim must move beyond the mystical tree on the sixth terrace of Mount Purgatory. So he sets off behind Virgil and Statius, only to overtaken by a group of cadaverous, skeletal penitents, whose hollow eyes watch the pilgrim's slower journey.This passage is an interesting set of problems: low stylists which end up with Ovidian references, all tied up in the very real medieval problem of starvation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this passage of camaraderie, mentorship, and growing affection on the terrace of gluttony.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:13] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 1 - 27. If you'd like to read along or start a conversation with me and others about this passage, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:19] Camaraderie and mentorship in a lower style with a final salvo at avarice.[11:34] A psalm fragment in Latin and a possible quibble about Virgil's character.[16:26] Pensive pilgrims, right out of the VITA NUOVA, Dante's earlier work.[20:05] Ovid's METAMORPHOSES as a source for hunger: cited thoroughly and then overwritten beyond its ending.[25:04] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIII, lines 1 - 27.