Walking With Dante

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 has a theory of how the whole universe works.
Her answers are always bigger than his questions.
And in this case, she brings him out onto the great sea of "to be" as he begins to sail into port.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the first part of her great schematic for the universe: its diverse order is a reflection of its unified creator.
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Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:14] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 94 - 114. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:14] Dante's agitation, Beatrice's smile.
[10:00] His implicit question: my body v. all the heavenly bodies.
[13:25] The first part of her answer about the orderliness of creation.
[20:10] Order and disorder: Dante's and our dualities.
[23:43] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto I, lines 94 - 114.

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 to the music of the spheres.
But Beatrice is there to set him straight and tell him that his ascent is faster than he could ever understand.
She also redefines "home"--not the Italian peninsula, nor the Garden of Eden, but the highest heaven, where they're headed in this journey to the final vision.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin our flight among the planets and stars to head home.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[00:49] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 61 - 93. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please find this episode's entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:34] Glaucus, the fisherman who becomes a sea-god.
[05:01] Glossing lines 61 - 72: the changing light and pilgrim.
[10:14] Glossing lines 73 - 75: the mind/body problem.
[13:19] Glossing lines 76 - 84: the sempiternal music of the spheres.
[18:55] Glossing lines 85 - 93: Beatrice's answer to an unasked question.
[21:00] How a guy transhumans--and how this guy translates some hard lines.
[28:06] There is always more light.
[30:06] Wonder and awe are not ends in themselves.
[32:03] Life is an on-going redefinition of "home."
[34:30] Rereading PARADISO, Canto I, lines 61 - 93.

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 nature of his story is already in high gear.
As is his understanding of the universe ahead of him. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we experience Beatrice's return to the poem and the pilgrim's new mode of reflecting her glory.
If you'd like to help underwrite this work, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:19] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 37 - 60. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me through a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:23] In PARADISO plot comes second.
[06:06] Where are we? Cosmology and geography in the first three tercets.
[12:26] Dante explains the vernal equinox by the geocentric crossings of various circles around the globe.
[16:16] PARADISO is based on locations that its readers can observe in real time.
[19:18] Beatrice returns to the poem and manifests her ray of light.
[26:07] The pilgrim wishes to return home--but where is that?
[28:21] PARADISO excels at unanswered questions.
[30:24] The sparks fly from the sun . . . or from the sphere of fire.
[34:00] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto I, lines 37 - 60.

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 various pieces of it.
But we can let those pieces stand as part of the polyvocality of the text.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we move back and forth from the Christian to the pagan as we walk through this second part of Dante's opening lines of PARADISO.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[01:11] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 36. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me via a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:09] This passage embarrasses too many Dante scholars.
[09:14] This passage is polyvocal, a two-part fugue or invention.
[17:59] These two voices lead to dissonances in the passage.
[23:36] Did Dante intend these dissonances?
[25:20] Three small dissonances: Dante crowns himself, fights in an arena, and find his worth in two places at once.
[28:32] Marsyas, a comedic tragedy.
[32:01] The flame of the tongue, Pentecost, or maybe Ulysses.
[34:48] A high-toned, perhaps red-flag reference to Cyrrha.
[35:55] An inaccurate but telling reference to Parnassus.
[39:07] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto I, lines 13 - 36.

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 methodology for who he will proceed.
These opening lines are already packed with the sort of theological and philosophical stumbling blocks that make PARADISO a challenge, not just for a modern reader, but even for a medieval one.
Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we slowly walk throug the first twelve lines of what is assuredly the most imaginative canticle, PARADISO.
Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:
[02:42] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto I, lines 1 - 12. If you'd like to read along, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.
[03:56] The glory of the unmoved mover.
[09:39] The varying illuminations of the universe.
[13:27] The finite geography of heaven.
[15:54] A passing glance at the highest heaven.
[17:34] Dante and St. Paul, renegotiated.
[19:25] The interrelations of desire, intellect, memory, and potentially Beatrice.
[22:23] The memory of a memory--or knowing by not knowing, the core of the aphophatic revelation.
[29:37] The key paradox of the mystical experience: the cross-currents of the material and the immaterial.
[33:02] The resurrection of Brunetto Latini.
[35:25] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 12.