MDRST-226 Love/Death in Dante and Beyond
"Amor condusse noi ad una morte" (“Love led us to one death”). As Dante portrayed in the Inferno, the experience love is inseparable from death. Our journey begins with Dante’s memory of Beatrice retold and reimagined in The New Life—a work inspired as much by love as by death. When Dante reunites with Beatrice in The Divine Comedy, his understanding of love also evolved. How did this shift prompt him to twist the stories of great lovers as a near-death encounter? We will explore an array of literary variations on the theme of love and death from the Middle Ages to the contemporary world. In addition to investigating the rich literary tradition, we will also turn to works in music and the visual arts.
Writing-Intensive (18)
Credits
1
Notes
This is a writing-intensive (WI) course. Emphasis will be put to close reading and analysis of the texts. All readings will be offered in English, but students at the advanced level of Italian are encouraged to read in the original language.