hBjcDQfnMguRXVnjTNgM Mark Scarbrough's WALKING WITH DANTE: More About Up, Down, And Spin In INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, Lines 70 - 93 - Walking With Dante

Episode 216

More About Up, Down, And Spin: INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, Lines 70 - 93

Published on: 11th December, 2022

There's much more to be said about this problem of up, down, and spin after Dante the pilgim and Virgil pass the center of the earth.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explore this problem: the world upside-down and the enforced rereading of INFERNO to turn it into COMEDY, the dominant form of Western civilization.

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

[01:28] Once more, a reading of my English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXXIV, lines 70 - 93. If you'd like to print it off, read along, or drop a comment, you can find this text on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[03:25] Dantista John Freccero's notion of the universe's spin via Aristotle.

[04:36] Dante's notion of global geography: Jerusalem and Mount Purgatory at opposite sides of the globe from each other.

[08:36] Dante flips the globe itself on his journey.

[09:49] Where is the dark wood in INFERNO, Canto I?

[11:32] All the left turns are really right turns and the two right turns are "really" left turns--which is how INFERNO becomes COMEDY.

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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!