Italian 450 / Comparative Literature 449
Dante
Spring, 2012
T Th 2:00-3:20, THH 203
Professor William Thalmann
THH 256P
(213) 740-0268
thalmann@usc.edu
Office Hours: T 10-11, 1-2; Th 1-2,
and by appointment
Set at Easter in the year 1300, Dante’s narrative of his exploration of Hell,
Purgatory, and Paradise in the Divine Comedy is poised between the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance. In one aspect, it recounts the experience of conversion from a disordered
life to a life of order and purpose, from various unfocused loves to love of a single goal,
and so the discovery of what is truly important in human life and of what that means for
our understanding of the world and our place in it. It also represents a glorious summing
up of ancient and medieval culture and thought intended both for scrutiny in the scholar’s
study and for recitation in taverns and on street corners. A poem of other-worldly
experience, the Divine Comedy is nevertheless a work of intense political commitment,
an impassioned commentary on the Italy of Dante’s day, on the passions (for power,
wealth and self-advancement) that corrupt states as well as individual souls, and on the
possible political forms that would bring peace and make people better rather than worse.
And finally, the Divine Comedy speaks to our own yearning for order and coherence and,
at the same time, to our post-modern suspicion of systematic world-views. The Divine
Comedy is an extraordinarily rich and complex poem of great intellectual elegance, and I
hope that this course will help you appreciate these qualities in it.
This course will consist of a careful reading of Dante’s Divine Comedy in its
historical, cultural, and intellectual context. Its specific goals will be:
 To help you appreciate this rich and wonderful poem as a literary and, more
broadly, a cultural production;
 To familiarize you with the Judaeo-Christian, classical, and earlier medieval
traditions (literary, philosophical, religious, and cultural) on which Dante drew;
 To introduce you to the turbulent history of Northern Italy in the thirteenth and
early fourteenth centuries CE. in order to appreciate the poem’s political
engagement and to see it as a response to contemporary events.
The poem will be read in a bi-lingual edition. No knowledge of Italian is necessary,
although it is welcomed. Italian majors and minors should read the poem in Italian.
The following texts have been ordered for the course:
Robert M. Durling and Ronald L. Martinez, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri,
Volume I: Inferno (Oxford University Press 1996)
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Durling and Martinez, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Volume II: Purgatorio
(Oxford University Press 2003)
Durling and Martinez, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Volume III: Paradiso
(Oxford University Press 2010)
In addition, here are some helpful web sites for Dante:
Digital Dante:
http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu/
Princeton Dante Project:
http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp
Danteworlds:
http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/index.html
Dante On-Line:
http://www.danteonline.it/english/home_ita.asp
Course Requirements
Regular class attendance with the assignments done by the dates indicated below
and participation in class discussion are expected. During the semester, each student will
be asked to give an in-class presentation on a topic of his or her own choosing (in
consultation with me); topics can range from a canto (or cantos) or an important theme or
issue in the Divine Comedy to Biblical or classical sources to which Dante alludes to
illustrations of the poem, Dante’s influence on later literature, or Dante and popular
culture (including film)—there are many other possibilities as well. There will be two
papers: a shorter one (5-6 pages) on the Inferno, and a longer one (10-15 pages), due at
the end of the semester in place of a final exam, on some theme or issue related to the
Divine Comedy as a whole. The longer paper may be based on your report (but
substantially expanded and elaborated) if the topic is appropriate for such full-length
treatment. The topic for this paper should also be chosen in consultation with me.
The grade for the course will be based on:



Class attendance and participation (15%)
In-class presentation (25%)
The two papers (20% for the shorter paper and 40% for the longer paper)
Extensions on writing assignments may be given for compelling academic or personal
reasons; please arrange extensions with me in advance. The university’s policies on
academic honesty will be strictly adhered to. You can find those policies in SCampus;
but please note that any incident of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Office of
Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards, that I will adhere to the penalties
recommended by the university, and that the recommended penalty for plagiarism on a
paper is a grade of F for the course. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with
standards of academic honesty and with what constitutes academic dishonesty. Here are
links to two excellent guides: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/forms/tio.pdf
http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/forms/tig.pdf.
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Schedule of Assignments and Classes
(Note: All three of the volumes to be used in the course have commentaries after each
canto. These commentaries should be used as part of each assignment.)
Tuesday, January 10: Introduction to course
Thursday, January 12: Historical background: Italy in the 13th century, Emperor vs.
Pope, Guelfs and Ghibellines. Read Introduction to Durling and Martinez, Inferno,
and selection from Vergil, Aeneid Book 6 (photocopy)
Tuesday, January 17: Allegory: the world as a book. Dante’s political theory.
Discussion of Vergil readings. Read Dante, de Monarchia 1.1-5, 16; 2.1-5, 11-12; 3.910, 16 (photocopy)
Thursday, January 19: Inferno 1-3
Tuesday, January 24: Inferno 4-6
Thursday, January 26: Inferno 7-10
Tuesday, January 31: Inferno 11-14
Thursday, February 2: Inferno 15-18
Tuesday, February 7: Inferno 19-22
Thursday, February 9: Inferno 23-26. By this date you must have a report topic.
Tuesday, February14: Inferno 27-30
Thursday, February 16: Inferno 31-34
Tuesday, February 21: Purgatorio 1-2; Paper on Inferno due in class.
Thursday, February 23: Purgatorio 3-6
Tuesday, February 28: Purgatorio 7-10
Thursday, March 1: Purgatorio 11-14
Tuesday, March 6: Purgatorio 15-18
Thursday, March 8: Purgatorio 19-22
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SPRING BREAK
Tuesday, March 20: Purgatorio 23-25
Thursday, March22: Purgatorio 26-29
Tuesday, March 27: Purgatorio 30-33. By this date you must have a final paper
topic.
Thursday, March 29: Paradiso 1-4
Tuesday, April 3: Paradiso 5-8
Thursday, April 5: Paradiso 9-12
Tuesday, April 10: Paradiso 13-16
Thursday, April 12: Paradiso 17-20
Tuesday, April 17: Paradiso 21-24
Thursday, April 19: Paradiso 25-29
Tuesday, April 24: Paradiso 30-33
Thursday, April 26: No assignment. Work on final paper
Final paper due Friday, May 4