The Liminal Space Between The Eighth And Ninth Circles Of Hell: Inferno, Canto XXXI, Lines 7 - 27

We've come through the ten malebolge or evil pouches of fraud, but we're not to the ninth circle of INFERNO yet. Instead, we're walking with Dante the pilgrim and his guide Virgil in one of the strangest spots in all of INFERNO: a liminal space between two circles, a spot where revelation, creativity, and even transgressive behaviors are free to roam.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as take our first steps into this canto of misperceptions and muddled historical references, a canto in which Dante the poet becomes as creative as he can be within the confines of INFERNO.

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

[02:19] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 7 - 27. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please go to my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:16] Inferno's Canto XXXI involves a series of reversals--with three examples in this short passage.

[08:37] Virgil becomes a natural philosopher in the model of Vitello from his work PERSPECTIVA.

[12:37] Roland's horn and Charlemagne's defeat are the historical nodes in Canto XXXI.

[17:02] Misperception is the repeated motif as Dante the pilgrim approaches the final revelation in each of the three canticles of COMEDY.

[21:14] Inferno's Canto XXXI is a liminal space between two circles of hell.

[26:28] What are the hallmarks of a liminal space?

[30:55] A rereading of this passage: INFERNO, Canto XXXI, lines 7 - 27.