Programme details
The aim of this course is to explore some of the leading ideas of
Dante’s work and their continuing significance to us. The audience
will be introduced to a wide range of texts and topics with a view
to reconstructing the moral and intellectual world in which Dante
lived. These topics will include Dante’s approach to love, philosophy,
theology, language, literature, politics, mysticism, astrology, as
well as his understanding of nature, grace and the afterlife, his
sources and his relevance to contemporary existential concerns.
The course is held in partnership with the Warburg Institute
and University College London. There will be an introductory
session in November 2016 followed by ten more sessions in the
Spring and Summer terms of 2017 covering the topics specified
above. Scheduled to take place on Tuesdays from 7.00 to 8.30 pm,
the course will be presented by Alessandro Scafi and John Took.
The event is free but please book online at www.icilondon.esteri.it
Please note: On the Peak of Darkness: From the Abyss to the
Light, a weekly series of public readings of Dante’s Divine
Comedy, will take place at the Warburg Institute on Mondays in
the Spring and Summer Terms, from 6.30 to 7.50 pm (16 sessions).
Free of charge. Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AB.
The Italian Cultural Institute
39, Belgrave Square, London SW1X8NX
Tel: (020) 7235 1461
Dante Poet and Philosopher
A fortnightly series of public readings
of Dante’s Work
Between November 2016 and June 2017
at the Italian Cultural Institute
Organised and presented by
Alessandro Scafi (Warburg Institute) and John Took (UCL)
1
Autumn Term 2016
Summer Term 2017
Tuesday evenings from 7.00 to 8.30 pm
Tuesday evenings from 7.00 to 8.30 pm
28 November 2016. Introducing Dante. Dante: world, life and
works. Dante and Ravenna.
8
2 May 2017. Dante and Astrology. The influence of the
movements of the heavens according to Dante; free will and
Divine Providence. Actual Eschatology.
Spring Term 2017
9
16 May 2017. Dante and Grace. The Modalities of Grace.
Being and grace as the power of resurrection.
10
30 May 2017. Dante and the Body. Conceptions of the
body in Dante’s afterlife; the body of air. The call to selftranscendence. Despair and Peace.
11
13 June 2017. Dante and the Beyond. Hell, Purgatory and
Paradise here and now, in this life. Authentic existence and
the courage to be.
Tuesday evenings from 6.30 to 8 pm
2
17 January 2017. Dante and Love. Dante as a love poet: the
Vita nova, the Convivio, the Commedia.
3
31 January 2017. Dante, Philosophy and Theology. Dante and
scholasticism; the nature of human happiness and the ends of
human striving.
4
14 February 2017. Dante, language and literature. Dante and
the ontologization of poetic form: Dante and the stil novo
(the Vita nova) – Dante and classical rhetoric (the De vulgari
eloquentia) – Dantean plurilingualism (the Commedia).
5
28 February 2017. Dante, Politics and the Church. Dante on
papal and imperial rule (etc.).
6
14 March 2017. Dante and his Sources. Classical Mythology
and Islam. Two Dantes; authorial intentionality.
7
28 March 2017. Dante and Mysticism. Contemplation as desire
for God. The door of Purgatory; Beatrice, her increased beauty
and ‘transhumanisation’; (etc.).