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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2022

Alison Cornish
Affiliation:
New York University
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Summary

There is a tendency, at least among secular readers, to bracket off Dante’s faith as something no longer true, something to which we no longer subscribe. Yet that would seem to miss not just an aspect of the Divine Comedy, but its central point. The episodes in the Inferno this volume focuses on, paradigmatic for the whole work, point to a problem of faith – lack of a shared belief, misreadings of important stories, failed allegiance, and broken promises. But it is the choice of Virgil as a guide, lost because of his belief in “false and lying gods,” that teaches us how to read ancient books whose culture we no longer share. How indeed can we believe in them?

Type
Chapter
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Believing in Dante
Truth in Fiction
, pp. 1 - 21
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Introduction
  • Alison Cornish, New York University
  • Book: Believing in Dante
  • Online publication: 10 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009091923.001
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  • Introduction
  • Alison Cornish, New York University
  • Book: Believing in Dante
  • Online publication: 10 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009091923.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Alison Cornish, New York University
  • Book: Believing in Dante
  • Online publication: 10 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009091923.001
Available formats
×