Episode 26

Everything's going to be okay. Week 25 (2): Dante's Divine Comedy, Paradiso

Jack is back as we discuss Paradiso, Jack's favorite part of Dante's Divine Comedy. I absolutely love getting to chat with him again (see a couple of earlier episodes linked below). We talk about why he loves Dante in general, and Paradiso in particular. Highlights include:

Dante's bravery (or chutzpah!) in writing his poetry and scholarly works in Italian rather than Latin;
Who Dante is for (spoiler--it's for YOU), and why (the title of this episode is a big hint!);
How people of different ages see Dante in a different light;
Why a map of Heaven is really hard to draw, especially compared to Hell and Purgatory.

Jack wrote his thesis on part of Paradiso, and he has a lot of experience in the classroom with the Divine Comedy, so he brings a lot of his knowledge to expand on what we've been talking about for the last two weeks.

This episode forms a kind of trilogy on Crack the Book: two weeks ago we discussed Inferno, and last week my friend Lisa and I covered Purgatorio. It's my hope that these three podcasts will inspire you to pick up your own copy of the Divine Comedy and jump in.

Next week we start Shakespeare...so get ready.

LINK

Ted Gioia/The Honest Broker’s 12-Month Immersive Humanities Course (paywalled!)

My Amazon Book List (NOT an affiliate link)

Crack the Book, Inferno Episode

Crack the Book, Purgatorio Episode

CONNECT

The complete list of Crack the Book Episodes: https://cheryldrury.substack.com/p/crack-the-book-start-here?r=u3t2r

To read more of my writing, visit my Substack - https://www.cheryldrury.substack.com.

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LISTEN

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5GpySInw1e8IqNQvXow7Lv?si=9ebd5508daa245bd