2008 Woodie Awards
To Hell and back: Marchesi speaks on Dante
Kelly Austin '08
Issue date: 10/31/07 Section: Entertainment
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"Abandon hope, all ye who enter."
Clearly, anyone reading this has never actually been to the gates of hell, but if you have taken the journey with Dante, you may know what to expect. And if you haven't taken the journey yet, well, what are you waiting for?
While some of us may boast knowledge about Dante's intellectual journey in the "Divine Comedy," few of us have spent nearly 20 years enthralled in its pages, attempting to discover meaning and significance behind every detail. One individual, however, can boast such a feat: Princeton University's Simone Marchesi.
On Oct. 26, students and faculty filled the President's Lounge to hear Marchesi present his lecture, entitled "Dante's Intellectual Journey." I will not be shy in reporting my ignorance of the "Divine Comedy," and I admit that I became slightly anxious when a sarcastic student sitting nearby tried to convince me the lecture was going to be in Italian. My apprehension waned, if only ever so slightly, when Marchesi began to speak.
Through a heavy Italian accent, he mixed wit with brilliance to share his expertise on Dante and his incredible journey. Before he began, Marchesi shared some important advice that was once imparted to him by a colleague: always have text to read from when presenting a lecture. Marchesi showed us his text, said he was not going to read from it, and in fact said it would be best to throw it away. The audience laughed, but in reality Marchesi had a legitimate point behind his sarcasm. "Dante's Intellectual Journey" was to be directed toward na've readers. I now found myself fitting right in. The point of Marchesi's lecture was to answer the daunting question, "What is the Divine Comedy?"
According to Marchesi, the beginning of anything tells you almost everything, especially in movies and books. The same goes for the "Divine Comedy." Therefore, the first three lines of the poem answer the daunting question, despite the fact that they are a cause for confusion. "Midway in the journey of our life/I came to myself in a dark wood,/for the straight way was lost."
Clearly, anyone reading this has never actually been to the gates of hell, but if you have taken the journey with Dante, you may know what to expect. And if you haven't taken the journey yet, well, what are you waiting for?
While some of us may boast knowledge about Dante's intellectual journey in the "Divine Comedy," few of us have spent nearly 20 years enthralled in its pages, attempting to discover meaning and significance behind every detail. One individual, however, can boast such a feat: Princeton University's Simone Marchesi.
On Oct. 26, students and faculty filled the President's Lounge to hear Marchesi present his lecture, entitled "Dante's Intellectual Journey." I will not be shy in reporting my ignorance of the "Divine Comedy," and I admit that I became slightly anxious when a sarcastic student sitting nearby tried to convince me the lecture was going to be in Italian. My apprehension waned, if only ever so slightly, when Marchesi began to speak.
Through a heavy Italian accent, he mixed wit with brilliance to share his expertise on Dante and his incredible journey. Before he began, Marchesi shared some important advice that was once imparted to him by a colleague: always have text to read from when presenting a lecture. Marchesi showed us his text, said he was not going to read from it, and in fact said it would be best to throw it away. The audience laughed, but in reality Marchesi had a legitimate point behind his sarcasm. "Dante's Intellectual Journey" was to be directed toward na've readers. I now found myself fitting right in. The point of Marchesi's lecture was to answer the daunting question, "What is the Divine Comedy?"
According to Marchesi, the beginning of anything tells you almost everything, especially in movies and books. The same goes for the "Divine Comedy." Therefore, the first three lines of the poem answer the daunting question, despite the fact that they are a cause for confusion. "Midway in the journey of our life/I came to myself in a dark wood,/for the straight way was lost."
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