Our Farewell To Fraud With A Host Of (Maybe Unanswered) Questions: INFERNO, Cantos XVIII, Line 1, through XXXI, Line 6

Here's our last episode on the giant eighth circle of INFERNO, the largest piece of real estate Dante creates in COMEDY.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I raise some interpretive questions, talk about why we read works of literature in the first place, and try to figure out what Dante is up to among the fraudulent. I've got more questions than answers. I hope to spur on a few in you.

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

[01:53] What in the end does fraud mean to Dante? How and why does he rank these sins in the way he does?

[13:28] The eighth circle of INFERNO is perhaps the most human part of hell. What does that mean for us modern readers? (And my thoughts about reading works of literature "humanistically.")

[24:40] The eighth circle of hell seems to invite us to interpretation without offering us validation for our interpretations.

[31:11] From Virgil's irritations to structural orderings, the eighth circle of hell is packed with complex ironies. It may well be the most ironic section of the canticle of irony: INFERNO.

[34:05] The eighth circle of INFERNO has more women than any other circle of hell, even the second (lust). But the number's still not high. Why is hell so masculine?

[37:58] The eighth circle of INFERNO has more outright references to God than any other circle of hell. What can we make of that?

[40:15] The vast circle of fraud contains the most self-assured poetry so far in COMEDY.