Dante and Primo Levi Flashcards
What are the early Christian strategies for adapting classical texts?
Adjust texts by pagan authors to make them retroactively Christian through allegorical interpretations.
What was the Carolingian revival?
An intellectual movement during Charlemagne’s reign that marked a critical stage of classical reception and revival of Roman culture.
What is double-mimesis in Dante’s work?
It involves Dante imitating both poet and poet while challenging them.
What are the strategies for making pagan literature ‘readable’ to Christians?
[”* Boundary-setting: separating moral/ideological limits of pagan texts from Christian truth.”, “* Selective re-working: adapting narrative elements and meanings to Christian frameworks.”, “* Separation of author and text: distinguishing between the pagan author and the poetic text.”]
How did Dante reinterpret classical literature?
He reworked classical literature for a Christian sensibility.
What is the driving force in Homer’s Odyssey?
The idea of return to homeland, Penelope, family, etc.
How does Dante view epic texts?
As historical events that prefigure Christian truth.
How does Dante’s Ulysses differ from the original character?
Dante’s Ulysses is driven by a transgressive hunger for adventure and rejects the return.
What does Canto 26 reveal about Ulysses’ punishment?
Ulysses is punished in Lower Hell for exercising his reason in wrongdoing, alongside Diomedes.
What are the eight circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno?
They are ditches of fraudulent men who sinned with their tongues, perpetually damned to burn.
What literary critique does Dante apply to Ulysses?
He places Ulysses in Lower Hell, condemning him for misusing God-given reason, making Greekness his flaw.
What complex identification does Dante have with Ulysses?
Dante mirrors Ulysses’ desire for understanding while being reminded to restrain his genius.
What new fate does Dante create for Ulysses?
Ulysses continues exploration and sails through the strait of Gibraltar to Mount of Purgatory.
What is the significance of Inferno 4 in relation to classical predecessors?
Pagan poets live in an Elysium-equivalent but remain spiritually apart from Dante.
What is Virgil’s role in Dante’s Inferno?
Virgil serves as a guide and poetic authority, yet is damned for not being baptized.
What is the limit of Virgil’s role in Dante’s journey?
It ends at Dis gates, which represent the boundary between pagan wisdom and divine revelation.
How does Dante transform the Aeneid in his own journey?
He re-engages with the text to create a journey of spiritual salvation.
What is the unique status of Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Dante’s work?
It requires Christian reinterpretation through corrective rewriting to serve a higher purpose.
How does Dante use Ovidian characters?
He figures them as Christian allegories to dramatize his own salvation.
What parallels exist between Dante’s Inferno and the memoir on Auschwitz?
Both explore the trope of the journey and the moral universe contrasting senseless cruelty.
What metaphor does Dante’s Inferno provide in the context of Auschwitz?
It serves as a metaphor of hell without mythologizing the horrors of Auschwitz.
What does Levi’s reference to Dante’s Canto 26 signify?
It highlights the importance of understanding fate and human dignity amidst suffering.
What profound moment does Levi experience while reciting Dante?
He reflects on human dignity and the pursuit of knowledge in the face of ignorance.
