ITAL10120 Dante's Inferno Reloaded: Text, Reception, Adaptation

Academic Year 2024/2025

This module invites the study of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, and particularly its first cantica, Inferno, through a blended approach that is both prospective and retrospective. We will look at our recent past through the lens of Dante’s characters and at Dante’s time through the lenses of his commentators, adaptors, and fans, from the fourteenth century to the present day. At the core of this module lies the notion of the universality of literary works, that students will tackle in a global, transcultural, and intermedial perspective. The reading and analysis of the core text will intertwine the examination of its intertextual reuses and adaptations, from Giovanni Boccaccio’s Trattatello to Gustave Doré’s illustrations, from Go Nagai’s manga to Royal Ballet’s Dante Project, from Primo Levi’s references to Dante’s Inferno videogame, and through films, tv series, pop music, billboards, and commercials. At the end of this module, students are expected to achieve a solid knowledge of the core text as well as reflect on the relevance of Dante’s Inferno to them and in our time.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- analyse a selection of cantos of Dante's Inferno in terms of both form and content and provide an informed, critical reading of them;
- demonstrate familiarity with the social and political context of fourteenth-century Italy;
- define and use the concepts of intertextuality, adaptation, and reception;
- creatively engage with the core text, reflecting on its relevance in our times;
- participate in in-class discussions, presenting personal ideas or critical readings orally;
- complete written assignments, focusing on content, structure, style of the analysed texts.

Indicative Module Content:

- Reading of selected cantos from Dante Alighieri's Inferno
- Reading of secondary sources on Dante, his works and the selected cantos
- Examination of literary, visual, musical, and multimedia content related to Dante's Inferno

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

52
Autonomous Student Learning

36
Lectures

12
Tutorial

12
Total

112
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Lectures, reflective learning, collaborative teaching, creative learning 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Requirements:

Not applicable to this module. This module is open to students without previous knowledge of Italian. The primary texts will be read in English.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Quizzes/Short Exercises: In-class, open-ended questions n/a Graded Yes

30
Exam (In-person): Class test n/a Graded Yes

40
Individual Project: Creative literary, artistic or multimedia output n/a Graded Yes

30

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.