Retro Readings: Dante

DANTE/HNRC 301VH-002
WEDNESDAYS, 5-6:15 p.m., FALL 2019
GEAR 243

The deadline to apply for our Retro Readings courses (via this application form) is 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 29, 2019.

The goal of this course is to offer a rereading of Dante, from his earliest commentators to contemporary critical theory, demonstrating both the historical and current importance of the text.

Dante's famous work was originally entitled simply The Comedy (La Comedia, influenced by the Greek spelling) -- there was nothing "Divine" about it. Rather, "Divine" was added much later as a "marketing strategy" following the creation of the printing press. So what is "Divine" about Dante’s poem? Or is it "Undivine," as Teodolinda Barolini suggests? This course will explore these and many other nuances of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, starting with an analysis of the text itself, and expanding to the many manifestations it offers through various critical approaches. 

We will examine the numerous citations within Dante -- Aristotle’s Ethics, Augustine’s Confessions, and Ulysses and The Aeneid, for example -- along with a much more robust contemporary reflection on the poem. We will consider the tropes of Dante as the poet and the traveler, but will spend most of our time contemplating the ways others have delved into the text through modes of translation; spirituality, including the Arabic influence in the text; gender; geography; etc. Simultaneously, we will critique the manners in which the poem has been interpreted visually throughout the centuries. We will end the course discussing Dante’s relevance in contemporary society. 

 What's in it for you:

• Develop an understanding of the structure, organization and contents of the Divine Comedy along diverse planes: historical, literal, figurative and spiritual.
• Synthesize the historical circumstances that underlie the creation of the poem and the plethora of references to the humanities throughout the text.
• Discover how literature can provide a deeper, global appreciation for themes and real-world issues.

What's expected of you:

• Active participation in group analysis, interpretation and discussion of thematic, visual and critical content.
• A willingness to make connections between historical and contemporary implications of Dante's work within a variety of disciplines.
• A commitment to pursuing knowledge to the best of your ability through completion of all class projects and assignments.

About Ryan Calabretta-Sajder:

Ryan Calabretta-Sajder (B.A. from the Honors College in English Literature and Italian, Dominican University, 2005; M.A. in Italian, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2007, D.M.L. in Italian and French, Middlebury College, 2014) has recently published Divergenze in celluloide: Colore, migrazione, e identità sessuale nei film gay di Ferzan Ozpetek (Celluloid Divergences: Color, Migration, and Sexual Identity in the Gay Films of Ferzan Ozpetek, Mimesis editore, 2016) and is currently an assistant professor of Italian at the University of Arkansas. He was the coordinator of the Italian Language Program at Rice University from 2009 to 2013, where he received the Serafim Excellence in Teaching Award for the School of the Humanities and was a lecturer in Italian at SUNY New Paltz from 2007 to 2008.

His current research interests include queer and feminist theory in modern Italian literature and cinema; Sicilian literature, cinema and culture; the Mafia and Anti-Mafia movement; and the evolution of the Giallo in literature and cinema. Calabretta-Sajder is the director of communications for the American Association of Teachers of Italian, President of Gamma Kappa Alpha, the National Italian Honors Society, an executive council member of the Italian American Studies Association, secretary/treasurer of the American Association of University Supervisors and Coordinators, and serves on the AP Italian Language and Culture Examination Development Committee.