The Daunting Problem Of This Sweet New Style: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, Lines 55 - 75

Dante the pilgrim has claimed that indeed he is the one who is inspired by love, who writes what love breathes into him and then makes meaning from that.

Bongiunta is not finished with that discussion. Instead, he goes on to name this inspiration the "sweet new style" (or the "dolce stil novo"), thereby igniting over seven hundred years of commentary and controversy.

And Bonagiunta himself seems to throw some fuel on that fire, given his apparent satisfaction with himself. And Dante the poet may add some fuel, too, given his citation of classical sources, hardly breathed-in inspiration.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for this most daunting passage in all of PURGATORIO, striking near the heart of what Dante the poet believes he's doing . . . and what generations of critics and thinkers believe he's doing.

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

[01:48] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 55 - 75. If you'd like to read along or to continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[04:02] Bonagiunta's imaginative landscape: brothers and knots.

[07:17] Bonagiunta's peers (or perhaps his school?): Giacomo da Lentini and Giuttone d'Arezzo.

[11:41] The "sweet new style" and the taproot of Italian literature.

[16:27] Problems with the "sweet new style": its membership, its final relationship to Bonagiunta, and its meaning sewn into the text over generations.

[24:55] Two similes that comment on or even challenge this "sweet new style."

[30:00] Forese's poignant question and its link to INFERNO X.

[31:56] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIV, lines 55 - 75.