Dante

Well, I had my Dante class today. It sounds like it's going to be an absolutely great class, and a whole lot of work. Part of me is still cowering in the corner because apparently one of the guys taking the class knows it well enough to refer back to the original Italian (I don't think he's really proficient, but he obviously knows a lot more than I do). Other than that, though, I'm feeling decently confident.

I have this feeling that as I'm reading Dante, I'll be traveling with him. I don't mean following the story, but actually in some way experiencing it with Dante; underoing the same process of thinking and feeling and being. This is true a little bit when I just read Dante. I have to keep reminding myself during Hell that Purgatory is ahead, and then Paradise. But I think that I will experience it even more taking this class. I'm starting out where Dante is, confused and lost, not sure why I'm here or if I can make it. A bit of hope, though, with the sight of Jerusalem and Virgil, although I've still a long way to go. But I will try to journal it, so that you, gentle reader, may come with me if you so choose.

So, today we talked about the first canto of Hell. Pondered some good questions, such as, why is Dante lost in a dark wood? where is the right road? how does he wake up? We also spent a lot of time talking about Dante's classification of the distinction between virtue/vice as "obvious" (good, virtuous, saintly people don't cheat at cards or commit adultery, these are the types of things that are inherently vice), and "the golden mean" (things that aren't inherently vice, such as eating a candy bar, which can be bad sometimes, and fine other times). That took a while.

We also spent a fair amount of time talking about Virgil. It seems harsh for Dante to put Virgil in Hell, as one of the damned souls. I want to like Virgil, and I want to think that Virgil is good, but Dante is saying that really, he isn't. Virgil is just a ghost, and when Dante first sees him he is mute, no longer a poet or a man.

Out of this discussion, particularly the bit on ghosts, there were a few quotes worth writing down, so I shall share them with you. To fully understand them, it is necesary to note that Dante thought that ghosts were always bad (you have visions of the saints, which is different, because they are still alive and seeing the Good, but ghosts are entirely different because they are the souls from hell, so are always bad). Just pointing that out, so the quotes make sense.

"You should never take candy from a ghost." - Dr Reynolds

"Torrey students shouldn't play with ghosts." - also Dr Reynolds, explaining that we are theologically sound to a non-Torrey grad student

More on Dante when I have the time. Good stuff.