A clear change occurs between the pilgrim's doubts, vulnerabilities, and potentially erroneous seductions at the beginning of Paradiso...

This reading of Paradiso 18 has 5 parts: "Non pur ne'miei occhi": A poet's doubt -- this post Diligence, delight, a...

Paradiso 17 has a centrality that makes itself apparent on several registers. It's the literal center of the canticle, and it's al...

We've been asking for a while why it is that at the midpoint of the  Paradiso,  when we ought to be ascending to the Empyrean, Dante b...

Is there a continuity of behavior between the stories we tell and the way we live?  So begins an interesting piece by Tim Parks in the  N...

If Auerbach's Mimesis tells a story, it's not one that is obvious or simply summarized. His close reading of passages from widely d...

We've spent a month with a couple of chapters from Eric Auerbach's  Mimesis;  let's hope it's been beneficial both as an ob...

These are some of the key passages toward the end of Mimesis Chapter 8, Farinata and Cavalcante : Of the writers we know, he was the firs...

While our plan is to discuss Erich Auerbach's chapter entitled "Farinata and Cavalcante" ( Mimesis ch. 8) on Wednesday, we...

It was our thought last week to stay with Erich Auerbach for one more session. Last time we talked about "Odysseus' Scar," th...