The Beast With Two Backs--Or, Two Things And Nothing: Inferno, Canto XXV, Lines 34 - 78 (Part One)
Walking With Dante17 Huhti 2022

The Beast With Two Backs--Or, Two Things And Nothing: Inferno, Canto XXV, Lines 34 - 78 (Part One)

First, a guy burns up, turns to ashes, comes back to life, and prophesies the future. Then a centaur run by with snakes and dragons on his back. And if that wasn't enough, now one of the most daring metamorphoses of all.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch the second metamorphosis in the seventh evil pouch in the sub-circles of the thieves. This passage is so complex that this episode is the first of two on it. Poor Angello. He never knew what hit him.

Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:59] My English translation of the passage: Inferno, Canto XXV, lines 34 - 78. If you'd like to read along, you can find this translation on my website: markscarbrough.com.

[05:50] Questions about dialogue and discourse in Canto XXV (as opposed to the longer, fuller conversations and speeches of Canto XXIV).

[10:53] The pilgrim Dante silences Virgil--and maybe the poet Dante, too. This is one of the many silencings in the seventh of the evil pouches (the "malebolge").

[14:17] Dante the poet steps out to address the reader--thereby silencing me (!) to make a reality claim for these events.

[19:20] Ovid's story from METAMORPHOSES that forms the basis for this metamorphosis in COMEDY. It's an erotic tale about the danger of the beast with two backs.

[27:06] The metaphors Dante uses to explain the metamorphosis he lifts from Ovid.

[30:09] Who are these guys in the seventh of the evil pouches? The early commentators know for sure--but maybe they miss the point.

[34:46] A final hint of nihilism at the end of this most incredible metamorphosis.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(499)

Incarnated in the Moon: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 19 - 45

Incarnated in the Moon: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 19 - 45

After Dante's warning to his readers (or perhaps some of his readers), we return to the plot, ascending through the heavens to arrive at the moon . . . or really, in the moon.Dante and Beatrice find t...

19 Elo 28min

Go Home: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 1 - 18

Go Home: PARADISO, Canto II, Lines 1 - 18

Our poet steps out of the shadows with an important message: "Go home."Because PARADISO is hard. Because we might get lost. Because we're not prepared.The stark address to all readers--or perhaps to a...

16 Elo 25min

Of Natural Instincts and Their Natural Ends: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 115 - 142

Of Natural Instincts and Their Natural Ends: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 115 - 142

Beatrice continues in her discourse about our natural instincts, making the bold claim that they can lead us to our natural ends . . . which are the good, not the catastrophic bad.Her Scholastic theol...

12 Elo 23min

Sailing Across the Great Sea of "To Be": PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 94 - 114

Sailing Across the Great Sea of "To Be": PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 94 - 114

Beatrice has answered Dante's first doubt, but he has another. He can't quite understand how he, maybe in his body, can make his way across the universe.She doesn't have a quick answer. Instead, she h...

9 Elo 25min

Returning Home Through the Music of the Spheres: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 61 - 93

Returning Home Through the Music of the Spheres: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 61 - 93

Our pilgrim finds everything doubled in brightness . . . because he's begun to fly up to the heavens, although he doesn't know it at first.He's too busy figuring out all that light . . . and listening...

5 Elo 37min

Staring at the Sun: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 37 - 60

Staring at the Sun: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 37 - 60

The plot gets underway in PARADISO.Our pilgrim Dante turns to Beatrice . . . who is paying him no attention. She's staring at the sun.So he does the same! He hasn't even left earth, yet the miraculous...

2 Elo 36min

A Polyvocal Passage With All Its Dissonances: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 36

A Polyvocal Passage With All Its Dissonances: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 36

Our poet moves from his scholastic and even (medieval) scientific opening of PARADISO into his invocation . . . to Apollo?This passage has often embarrassed Dante scholars who feel the need to excuse ...

29 Heinä 41min

Welcome to a Renegotiated Poem: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 12

Welcome to a Renegotiated Poem: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 12

From its opening lines, it's clear that PARADISO is not like what has come before in COMEDY. Dante seems to be renegotiating the terms of his poem, establishing a new voice, a new model, and a new met...

26 Heinä 37min