«There is a place in hell...»: Journey to Malebolge

Publisher: UniorPress

Book series: Quaderni della ricerca 

ISSN: 2724-5519

Pages: 186

Language: English

NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/urn:nbn:it:unina-24482

Abstract: This volume collects some of the contributions discussed during the workshop «Luogo è in Inferno ...». Viaggio a Malebolge held at the Pontaniana Academy of Naples on the 5 of December 2016. The volume, with an introduction by Margherita De Blasi, includes two essays of a general order, which address Malebolge in general (Pinto, Cappelli) and three essays (Celotto, Varela-Portas, Fenzi) dealing with single canti (in particular, XVIII and XXI- XXIII) and related exegetical problems. The authors took advantage of a wide, open editorial space, without the constraints of "character numbers", nor of themes and critical postures. According to this approach, the book aspires to offer some progress in research and some wide-ranging suggestions – as for instance the important proposals on the function and the meaning of the figure of Gerion, offered by Pinto; the interpretations of the fabula of the Frog and the Mouse, both doctrinally refined even if strongly divergent, advanced by Varela-Portas and Fenzi; the deepening of the concept and the extent of the Sinata linguae played by Celotto, as well as the reflection on the "bestiality" of reason when addressed to evil proposed by Cappelli. The Malebolge affair, in short, now more than ever, with its political-civil sins, with its pressing denunciation of the public hypocrisy of the ruling classes (the social level of the group is very high) still has much to say, not only on the level of critical historical reconstruction, but on that of current issues, fearlessly addressing the present and comparing it to the Ancient Age.