The Italian Cultural Institute of Montreal, in collaboration with Prof. Andrea Falcon (Department of Philosophy, Concordia University), is pleased to announce a series of talks on the topic of “Dante and Philosophy”.
Dante (1265-1321) was not a professional philosopher but was seriously engaged with philosophy, and this engagement was essential to his work as a whole. With the help of three guest speakers, we will explore various aspects of Dante’s engagement with philosophy from the Convivio to the Commedia.
Wednesday, November 14, 6 pm
Italian Cultural Institute, 1200 Dr. Penfield Avenue
Event in Italian
During this meeting, three different aspects concerning Dante’s vision in 1900 will be analysed. (1) Dante’s populist idea used to give light to fascism, in order to support fascist ideas, the fascist regime and to legitimate racial laws. (2) Dante’s Inferno used as a model to diffuse the concept of the death camp, or Lager, as referred to Primo Levi’s testimony. (3) The Lager seen as the implementation of a fantasy that is deeply rooted in the occidental culture and that Dante’s Inferno represents best. In the end, there will be a discussion on how Dante and the humanistic culture have contributed to the creation of the Lager and the violence that was used inside it.
Lino Pertile is Carl A. Pescosolido Research Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Emeritus, at the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. His studies deal with different themes, such as the Latin Middle Ages, French and Italian literature in the Renaissance period, Foscolo and Leopardi, the Italian novel of the twentieth century. Among his most recent publications we mention: L. Pertile and Z. G. Baranski (edd.) Dante in context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, second edition 2017; La punta del disio: Semantica del desiderio nella Commedia. Florence: Cadmo 2005; Dal Cantico dei Cantici al Paradiso terrestre di Dante. Ravenna: Longo 1998; L. Pertile (ed.), the Cambridge History of Italian Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1996.
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