lenten series: Dante's Divine Comedy - some links

For those about to descend, here are a few links for information about the Dante, the Comedy, assorted online texts and translations, how to stop the mouth of underworld beasts from classical mythology and that sort of stuff.

Have a miserable Lent!

Why I've taken up Dante for Lent
--By A.N. Wilson - article in the Telegraph from Lent 2007

Welcome to Danteworlds, an "integrated multimedia journey--combining artistic images, textual commentary, and audio recordings--through the three realms of the afterlife (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise) presented in Dante's Divine Comedy. The site is structured around a visual representation of Dante's worlds: it shows who and what appear where. Click on regions within each realm (circles of Hell, terraces of Purgatory, spheres of Paradise) to open new pages featuring people and creatures whom the character Dante meets during his journey. Click on individual figures in the regions to view larger images in pop-up windows. Available for each region are explanatory notes, a gallery of artistic images, recordings of significant Italian verses, and study questions--all aimed at enriching the experience of reading Dante's poetic vision of a voyage literally out of this world."
--University of Texas

Harvard Classics, Vol. 20 The Divine Comedy:  an English trans. by Henry Cary

DIGITAL DANTE  trans of Henry W. Longfellow, and the Allen Mandelbaum translation
-- Columbia University project

The Princeton Dante Project,  of particular interest is the series of lectures on this page.

The Dartmouth Dante Project (DDP) is "a searchable full-text database containing more than seventy commentaries on Dante's Divine Comedy - the Commedia."

And if you can get your hands on "The Figure of Beatrice" by Charles Williams, you will be close to the Kingdom of Heaven.

In addition, a bit o' reading in Aristotle's Ethics, Virgil's Aeneid, Augustine generally and Boethius should round out all that extra time you will have from doing a TV fast...

Update:  from Mike's recommendation in the comments comes a link to Father Robert Crouse's series on Dante.  This comes via a site I've previously described as "the best little anglican church website in Canada".

Comments

[Mike]

I spent three days at Elliott House in Savannah last week listening to Dr. Robert Crouse lecture on the Paradiso. In case you tolerate other websites I will commend the recordings of studies held in the Parishes of Petite Riviere and New dublin which are accessible on their excellent website, http://www.prnd.ca/PRNDlectures.html
I read through Esolen's translation of the D.C. in Janaury and will try to go through Sayers' translation in Lent. (Esolen's notes have some amazing general introductions to each Book and Canto.) So, we'll be on the same journey.
While I was delighted to discover that Dante was, perhaps wihtout being fully conscious of it, a High Church Prayer Book Anglican, I was even more elated by his vision of the reconciliation of so many different and apparently opposing positions in the eternity and heaven of God and challenged by his call for reform in the Chuch and especially among the clergy. The relation of his love for Beatrice and for God and how both of these needed to be corrected and perfected is of course a paradigm for the proper relation of human and divine love (eros and agape) and the secular and spiritual but also full of helpful material for considering the meaning of one's relationship to and love for their spouse.
I look forward to your comments as you read through.
Your blog remains the only one worth visiting, both the content and tenor are refreshing.
Peace

[joseph]

Thanks for the link (and the kind words about the blog) Mike. I've added the link in the main post. Charles Williams in his commentary was quite interested in the relationship between eros and divine love. I think that in our current climate, the church could benefit from a deeper examination and reflection on these themes.