Walking With Dante

We've come through the ten malebolge or evil pouches of fraud, but we're not to the ninth circle of INFERNO yet. Instead, we're walking with Dante the pilgrim and his guide Virgil in one of the strangest spots in all of INFERNO: a liminal space between two circles, a spot where revelation, creativity, and even transgressive behaviors are free to roam. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as take our first st...

Here's our last episode on the giant eighth circle of INFERNO, the largest piece of real estate Dante creates in COMEDY. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I raise some interpretive questions, talk about why we read works of literature in the first place, and try to figure out what Dante is up to among the fraudulent. I've got more questions than answers. I hope to spur on a few in you. Here are the seg...

We have been at fraud, in the eighth circle of hell, among the malebolge (or evil pouches) and with Dante the pilgrim and Virgil, for almost eighty-seven episodes of this podcast! How is that possible? Well, partly because this circle is the largest single piece of real estate in all of COMEDY. From INFERNO, Canto XXVIII, line 1, all the way to Canto XXXI, line 6. So here's the first of two sum-up...

Eleven episodes! That's how long it took us to get through the tenth and last of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") of fraud, Hell's vast eighth circle. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look back over this last pouch. I'll reread the entire pouch from my English translation. Then I'll pose six issues for more discussion: five discussion questions we would bat around if we were in a literary seminar...

We've come to the bottom of the circle of fraud and to one of the most complicated, self-aware, and modern similes in all of INFERNO. Is it connected to fraud? Or to art? Or both? Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore Virgil's stern rebuke of the pilgrim, which brings out the poet Dante, who offers us a gorgeous simile about the divided, modern self, a self in contradiction with itself, narcissi...

We're nearing the bottom of the eighth circle of hell, the fundamentals of fraud--where we're treated to an insult contest between Master Adam and Sinon, the Greek who lied to the Trojans and got them to let in the wooden horse. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk with the (silent!) pilgrim Dante and his mentor, (the even more silent!) Virgil, through the circles of hell and the "malebolge" of fr...

We are almost done with the tenth of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") that make up the giant eighth circle of INFERNO, the vast landscape of hell. We've met several falsifiers and have spent some time with the consummate narcissist, Master Adam--who has managed to stop talking about himself long enough to point out two more falsifiers when the pilgrim Dante asks who they are. Join me, Mark Scarb...

First, leprosy. Then rabies. And now dropsy. The medieval hospital of horrors just gets worse in the tenth of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") of fraud. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we meet one of the great sinners of hell--who is actually something of an undiscovered character. Poor Master Adam. He doesn't get the love that Francesca, Farinata, and Ulysses get. But the counterfeiter Master Adam...

We've been to Thebes and Troy. We've seen two rabid souls arrive to tear up old Capocchio and maybe the other alchemist. But who are these rabid pigs? Impersonators. People who pretend to be who they're not. You know, most of the modern world. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look closely at the two impersonators in the last of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") of fraud in the giant eighth circle...

We've come to the most complex opening of any canto in INFERNO. Canto XXX opens with two, long allusions about the tragedy of Thebes and Troy, both of which morph into similes for the damned, a medieval literary tour de force. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stick around the final of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") of fraud, the eighth circle of Dante's INFERNO. We're almost done with fraud, bu...

A second figure speaks up--this time, a leper named Capocchio who wants to gossip about the fools of Siena and find a personal connection with our pilgrim, Dante. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this final passage in Inferno, Canto XXIX. We're in the tenth of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") of fraud, among the invalids in a medieval hospital of the damned. And we're hanging onto our hum...

The first falsifier in the tenth of the evil pouches of fraud (those famed "malebolge") steps up to tell his tale: a funny joke about grifting, the stupidity of his mark, and the unexpected whims of damnation in Dante's INFERNO. Dante is clearly having a good time. And we should, too. Because one of the ways you save your humanity, even in hell, is to laugh at human foibles. Join me, Mark Scarbrou...

We've come to the final evil pouch (or "malebolge") in the giant, hellish circle of fraud, Dante's largest piece of real estate in all of COMEDY. This last pit is also one of the more disgusting spots in Inferno: a medieval medical ward, full of contagion, the nightmare for anyone in the 1300s. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we hear from the first of many of the damned in this foul pit--and as we wa...

The pilgrim, Dante, and his guide, Virgil, finally come to the last of the ten evil pouches of fraud (those famed "malebolge")--and wow, it's a doozy! They walk above a medieval malarial ward, full of festering bodies, rank sickness, and disgusting smells. This pit may well be the foulest yet. But if Dante and Virgil can walk it, so can we. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin to explore the fart...

You thought we were done with the ninth pit of fraud and the schismatics? No way! We're still there, no matter if Bertran de Born's appearance felt like an ending. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this coda to the terrifying evil pouch (or malebolge) of fraud in Dante's INFERNO. In this passage, Dante sees a family member for the first time in the afterlife. And he may come to the first res...

We end the crowded ninth evil pouch of the schismatics with . . . a poet: Bertran de Born. A poet Dante had previously praised. A poet who wrote poetry that is a direct influence on Dante's earlier works. And a poet who has actually been with us throughout Inferno, Canto XXVIII, even if we didn't realize it. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the historical and meta-literary details in his co...

We've seen so many figures down in the ninth of the evil pouches of fraud, the ninth of the "malebolge" in Dante's INFERNO. And we're about to see more, including the guy who (maybe?) started the entire Florentine civil war that has torn Dante and his family apart. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look through a short passage to discover a figure who is at the root of Dante's own troubles. Here are...

We're down in the crowded pit of the schismatics, the ninth of the evil pouches (or "malebolge") that make up the giant eighth circle of fraud in Dante's INFERNO. We've already seen two figures, heard about at least four others, and are about to meet yet another guy. Except he can't speak. His tongue's been cut out. Because he fomented the Roman civil war--and helps us see Dante the poet's ambival...

Muhammad has walked on, but we're not finished with the schismatics and those who make scandal for the faithful. The ninth of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") of fraud is a crowded pit! Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we descend to some historical obscurity, part of the on-going difficulty of what may well be the most occluded and murky pit among all those in the giant, eighth circle of fraud in IN...

We're down among the scandal makers and the schismatics in the ninth of the evil pouches (the "malebolge") that make up the great circle of fraud in Dante's INFERNO. We've heard Muhammad talk about his mutilation--and now we have the answer to his question as to who the pilgrim is. But Dante doesn't answer. Virgil does. And his answer provokes the most shocking line in all of INFERNO. You might mi...

We've come to the ninth pouch of fraud--and perhaps the most shocking malebolge of them all. Here stands Muhammad mangled in a pit full of those who create scandals and those who make schisms. But which is Muhammad for Dante? Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore one of the most vulgar and shocking passages in all of INFERNO. Dante may be overcompensating for his Crusading ethic, or trying to ov...

We have come to the ninth pit of the sins of fraud, way down in the eighth circle of Dante's INFERNO. We're about to meet a set of souls--well, bodies, more like--who endure unbelievable agony, exactly as bodies have always endured agony under the sword of empire. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this complicated opening passage for canto XXVIII. It's chock full of historical references. Bu...

We've spent a long time in the eighth of the malebolge, the evil pouches that make up the big circle of fraud in Dante's INFERNO. Before we take our leave, let's look at the way the two speakers, Ulysses and Guido da Montefeltro, can be compared and contrasted with each other. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this review episode of two of the most rewarding cantos in all of INFERNO. I've got lots of...

Down in the eighth of the evil pouches (the malebolge) that make up the giant circle of fraud in INFERNO, Guido da Montefeltro has told the (self-justifying) tale of his life. And now comes the struggle at his death, a fight between Saint Francis and a black Cherub from hell. Join me, Mark Scarbough, as we slow-walk through INFERNO, finishing up Guido's incredible monologue about his life and deat...

Let's pull apart the first chunk of the speech from Guida da Montefeltro in the eighth of the evil pouches (the malebolge) that make up the giant, eighth circle of INFERNO--that is, the sins of fraud. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I give you my English translation of Inferno, Canto XXVII, lines 58 - 111. I'll walk you through Guido's attempt at self-justification, the ironies inherent in his speech...