hBjcDQfnMguRXVnjTNgM Finding Ourselves Lost In A Dark Wood: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 9 - Walking With Dante

Episode 2

Finding Ourselves Lost In A Dark Wood: INFERNO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 9

Published on: 26th September, 2020

We take the first steps with our pilgrim, Dante, as he finds himself in a dark wood and starts his walk . . . through hell? No, across the known universe.

He's also in a mid-life crisis. Curiously, not his. Instead, ours.

It's a bad spot--so bad that he quakes even as he tries to write about it years later.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, to discover the opening lines of Dante's masterwork.

If you'd like to read my English translation or dip deeper into this passage, there's a full study guide on my website, markscarbrough.com or walkingwithdante.com. Look for the header link to INFERNO, Cantos I - IV at the top of the site, then scroll or page down to the episode.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:09]  Why would you want to walk with Dante?

[03:39]  Who am I? This podcast has been brewing for years.

[05:56]   At first glance, why are the opening lines so strange, even off-putting?

[14:12]  Does Dante's poem open "in medias res"? That is, "in the middle of things"?

[16:33]  Who's journey is this? Who is this "I"? And how can this "I" write this journey into the wilds of the universe?

[21:57]  What's the point of Dante's COMEDY? To walk across the known universe.

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About the Podcast

Walking With Dante
A passage-by-passage stroll through Dante’s DIVINE COMEDY with Mark Scarbrough
Ever wanted to read Dante's Divine Comedy? Come along with us! We're not lost in the scholarly weeds. (Mostly.) We're strolling through the greatest work (to date) of Western literature. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I take on this masterpiece passage by passage. I'll give you my rough English translation, show you some of the interpretive knots in the lines, let you in on the 700 years of commentary, and connect Dante's work to our modern world. The pilgrim comes awake in a dark wood, then walks across the known universe. New episodes every Sunday and Wednesday.
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About your host

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Mark Scarbrough

Former lit professor, current cookbook writer, creator of two podcasts, writer of thirty-five (and counting) cookbooks, author of one memoir (coming soon!), married to a chef (my cookbook co-writer, Bruce Weinstein), and with him, the owner of two collies, all in a very rural spot in New England. My life's full and I'm up for more challenges!