3rd Annual Saint Monica-Saint George Lecture in Contemporary Catholicism
Dante’s Divine Comedy and
the Contemporary Pilgrim’s
Lenten Journey
Paul Contino
Blanche E. Seaver
Professor of Humanities,
Pepperdine University
Written between 1308 and 1321, Dante’s
Divine Comedy is widely considered
one of the greatest works of Italian and
world literature. Divided famously into
three parts—Inferno, Purgatory, and
Paradise—it is an allegorical vision
of the afterlife as understood by the
worldview of medieval Catholicism. It is
also an enduring reflection on sin, virtue,
and redemption.
Paul Contino is one of the most soughtafter speakers on Catholic literary culture
working in America today. Co-editor of
the journal Christianity and Literature,
he is the author of a remarkable range
of articles addressing such figures as
the Taoist writer Zhuangzi, Jane Austen,
Tobias Wolff, and Mikhail Bakhtin. An
expert on Dante and Dostoevsky, he
wrote the introduction to Northwestern
University Press’s edition of Dante’s
Divine Comedy (2010). At present, he is
completing a book manuscript entitled
Christ among the Karamazovs, which
examines the Christological dimension of
Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov.
Tues, March 10, 2015, 7:00-8:30 PM
Saint Monica-Saint George Catholic Church,
located just off the southwest corner of the UC
Main Campus, 328 W. McMillan Street, Clifton
Made possible by the
generosity and vision of
Ruth J. & Robert A. Conway
Co-Sponsors: Department of
English and Comparative Literature;
Department of Romance Languages
and Literatures.