Dante's Divine Comedy

Today, people feel Dante's Paradiso is irrelevant. It's not. It is the place of true perception and delightful knowledge, and the goal of the Divine Comedy. The question is how to follow Dante's lead and become aware of this domain of reality that is here, now as much as anywhere.In this illustrated talk, I track how Dante's perceptions expanded as, led by Beatrice, he transhumanised. I ask, too, who I might meet as guides on the way.My book, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey is out now - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-book

For further details about Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-bookFor further details about the Dante Society of London - https://dantesocietylondon.com/index.html2:34 Welcome3:23 Dante’s first 700 years6:08 Dante Society of London9:14 Invoking Dante today10:33 Introducing my new book18:08 Reading in Italian and English from the Inferno, with some thoughts27:12 Reading in Italian and English from the Purgatorio, with some thoughts34:44 Reading in Italian and English from the Paradiso, with some thoughts43:44 QnA - When did Mark first feel the pang of love for Dante?45:23 QnA - How is Dante regarded in Italy now?47:40 QnA - Comments by Owen A Barfield on Owen Barfield, Dante and CS Lewis50:28 QnA - In what ways is Dante a visionary?54:00 QnA - Can you compare Dante’s Satan with Milton’s?58:55 QnA - How does Dante inspire artists; how have artists responded?1:03:13 QnA - What does Mark make of the Clive James’ translation?

Mark Vernon talks about Dante and his new book, Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey (Angelico Press) at the Church Times podcast.This year marks 700 years since Dante’s death, and the Church Times of 10 September 2021 includes features by Robin Ward and Alexander Faludy, as well as several reviews of books published to mark the anniversary.In a Church Times review of Mark’s book, Jonathan Boardman describes it as a “detailed and immensely thoughtful commentary. . . His personal experience as a psychotherapist and student of philosophy, polished further with physics, theology, and ordination, opens . . . a very special reflective door into Dante’s thinking and expression: its dreamlike design is peppered constantly with personal experience and knowledge.”

To preorder Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey see - https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781621387480/dantes-divine-comedyTo join me and register for the online book launch on 14th September at 6pm BST see - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mark-vernon-on-dantes-divine-comedy-tickets-168394477415?keep_tld=1For more details about the book and an excerpt from the introduction see - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-book

In this 700th anniversary year, the truth of the Divine Comedy is a key issue. Modern critics may explain its spiritual veracity by putting its impact down to social construction and performativity. But Dante knew about literature as much as he knew about divine life. He is emphatically clear that he has travelled to the high heavens and seeks to write so that we may follow him too.In this talk, I use Dante's own framework of the literal, allegorical, tropological and anagogic to explore how he doesn't just report his time in heaven, but presents us with an account that opens divine domains to this day.For more on my book, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey (Angelico Press), see https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-book

Categories like feminine and masculine can constrain as much as illuminate. But there is no denying that men and male entities play a major, often surprising part in Dante's journey through the Divine Comedy. This talk complements my look at Dante and the Divine Feminine, now considering Dante's encounters with figures such as Belacqua and Statius,  Bernard and Cacciaguida. Archetypal qualities such as the warrior, magician, lover and king assist. The talk ends with the figure of Beatrice, who might be said to integrate the feminine and masculine, and so be the guide Dante needs to understand the human-divine connection.For more about Mark's work on Dante, including his book, see - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy.

Categories like feminine and masculine can constrain as much as illuminate. But there is no denying that women and female entities play a major, often surprising part in Dante's journey through the Divine Comedy. Saints including Beatrice, Lucia and Mary, historic figures such as Piccarda, Francesca and Cunizza, and mythological entities like the sirens all figure.In this talk, I use Erich Neumann's exploration of feminine archetypes, The Great Mother, to deepen a sense of how the one God, freely manifesting in all beings and forms, is experienced by Dante in these women and creatures.For more about Mark's work on Dante, including his book, see - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy

The Divine Comedy aims to deepen and broaden our perception of reality, often by exploding preconceptions. Nowhere is this more true than in Dante's take on the Christian perception of the Trinity. For Dante, it is way more than a doctrine. It is a mode of seeing that reveals reality as dynamic and dancing to its depths.For further talks and details of Mark's book on Dante see - www.markvernon.com

For more on Dante do see - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedyDetails of my book, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey, are here - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-bookAlso, use this code, “dantemv”, to get £10 off my Divine Comedy course at The Idler via this link - https://www.idler.co.uk/product/dantes-divine-comedy-in-100-images-with-mark-vernon/?wpam_id=2

[This is an audio version of a talk with images, which is on my YouTube channel.]Making sense of why Dante had to travel through hell, what was going on in purgatory, and how that's all linked to the destination of heaven, comes with appreciating how, in the spiritual life, descent and ascent are profoundly linked.Dante explores the links between virtues and vices, moving beyond the literal, high places are risky places, desiring not more but it all, the cross and failures as digressions, the emptiness that opens to fullness, and how hell is the way human beings discover the reality of heaven.For more on Dante do see - https://www.markvernon.com/dantes-divine-comedy.Details of my book, Dante's Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey, are here - https://www.markvernon.com/books/dantes-divine-comedy-book