Already in 1929 Erich Auerbach highlighted the innovative character of Dante’s oeuvre which, in contrast with its traditional interpretation as the culmination and summa of a medieval Weltanschauung, he associated with a modern representation of the human being in its individuality and historical reality. This conference gathered scholars from different disciplines (literary studies, history, linguistics, philosophy, queer theory, theatre) to discuss the role that language plays for Dante. In particular, the question with which this conference engaged is to what extent Dante’s linguistic theory and praxis, which can be understood in terms of a strenuous defense of the vernacular language, in tension with the prestige of Latin, both informs and reflects a new constellation of authority, knowledge and identity, which is imbued with a significant element of subjectivity and opens up towards modernity. The conference also included a dialogue with Giorgio Pressburger on his recent Nel regno oscuro and a performance based on Dante and Pasolini.
In English
With
Albert Russell Ascoli (Berkeley)
Zygmunt Baranski (Cambridge)
Emma Bond (Oxford)
Gary Cestaro (Chicago)
Sara Fortuna (Berlin)
Stefano Gensini (Roma)
Carlo Ginzburg (Pisa)
Manuele Gragnolati (Oxford, Berlin)
Agnese Grieco (Berlin)
Ruedi Imbach (Paris)
Giulio Lepschy (Cambridge)
Laura Lepschy (London, Cambridge)
Elena Lombardi (Bristol)
Lino Pertile (Harvard)
Irène Rosier-Catach (Paris)
Francesca Southerden (Oxford)
Mirko Tavoni (Pisa)
et al
Organized by
Sara Fortuna, Manuele Gragnolati, Jürgen Trabant,
generously funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung
The event, like all events at the ICI Berlin, is open to the public, free of charge. The audience is presumed to consent to a possible recording on the part of the ICI Berlin. If you would like to attend the event yet might require assistance, please contact Event Management.
