Long seen as one of the oiliest sinners, maybe Francesca is much more: a character who escapes not only the pilgrim, but Dante himself, her creator.
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In Inferno, Canto V, we meet the first great sinner: Francesca (and her lover Paolo). In this episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE, I’ll build a case against Francesca, showing her to be the gravest threat yet to our pilgrim as he walks across the known universe.
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Dante asked Virgil who's out on the wind. Virgil answers with a list of the "great" souls on the wind--but much more: a surprising redefinition of lust.
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We've left Minos behind and stepped into the winds of lust: a relentless storm that provokes a gorgeous simile as the pilgrim stares into this abyss.
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In this interpolated episode of the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE, I’ll introduce a historical overview of the deadly sins: why these sins? And why are there seven of them? Who decided which sins “count”? And how does that affect Dante’s art?
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The second circle of Dante's INFERNO--a stranger place than the last, with a sure judge who might even be able to tell the truth about Virgil.
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Why has Dante's THE DIVINE COMEDY lasted 700 years? Its architecture, its invitation to multiplicity, and its very human motivation: love.
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We finally come to the crowd in Limbo's castle: a great list of warriors, thinkers, writers, geometers, physicians, and (yes) Islamic writers.
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Dante gets put in the company of the great poets. Problem is, they're in hell. Also, Dante's not written enough. The passages in Inferno get curiouser.
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Virgil answers Dante's question: Does anyone get out of Inferno? Yes! But maybe not the one soul who matters. Not Virgil, Dante's poetic father.
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Limbo is Dante's first donnybrook, his first true beef with Christian theology. While the doctrine of Limbo is being codified even in Dante’s day, he boldly plays with and even changes that orthodoxy, remaking Limbo into something that better suits his poem (and maybe his poetics).
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Virgil leads Dante home--well, at least to Virgil's home turf. The two arrive in Limbo, the place where babies sigh and where people of great merit are suspended in longing. Virgil even also offers a theology for this place. But is it believable? Is Virgil hedging his bets? Or is the poet Dante behind the scenes altering the terms of damnation?
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Charon's off at his job. Virgil's gotten suddenly kinder. And Dante? He's not in good shape, standing on the shore of the river that borders hell.
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The shore of hell! Here comes Charon and his boat. Here are the damned, waiting to cross. And here are Virgil and Dante, having a spat.
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The first bit of hell we see is the hell we've always wanted, a sadist's dream. Except what's being punished? The failure to make up your mind. And maybe the failure of the pilgrim to make up his mind. It’s his first great moment to name a sinner . . . and he doesn’t. He muffs it so bad, centuries of commentators haven’t been able to decide who this reprobate is.
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