Antonio Scuderi
Dante’s Divine Comedy—an imaginary journey through the Christian afterlife—is one of the most important epic poems in Western Literature. The Inferno, the first book, tells of Dante’s adventures through Christian hell. In the fifth canto of the Inferno, Dante meets two lovers who are destined to be together for eternity. Their story is based on true events that would have been forgotten in time. But by weaving it into his poem, Dante immortalized the names of Paolo and Francesca whose story throughout the centuries has inspired innumerable works of art, music, and theatre. Antonio Scuderi, Professor of Italian, will read and explicate Inferno V, focusing on Dante’s use of imagery and themes from both the classical and medieval worlds.