- A South African Convivio with Dante
- Edited by Sonia Fanucchi, Anita Virga
Releasing the Prisoners of Hope: Dante’s Purgatorio Breaks the Chains of the Born Frees
- Victor Houliston
- © 2021 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/978-88-5518-458-8.07
Beginning with a tribute to the late Chris 'Zithulele' Mann, a poet and activist who was deeply immersed in Dante, this chapter comments on some of the patterns that emerge from the creative contributions of the Dantessa students. Two authors affirm and explore ideas of black womanhood by appealing to Beatrice and Francesca, potentially combining the two figures. Several authors are acutely aware of the purgatorial condition of post-apartheid South Africa, suggesting a long and arduous march to freedom. The image of flight recurs: thrice, madly, into the inferno and once, temporarily, in limbo. These lively responses to La Commedia prompt the question: what kind of literary studies is proper to purgatory, and elicit a tentative reply, urging a re-invention of the discipline of letters.
- Keywords:
- black feminism,
- post-apartheid literary studies,
- Chris Mann,
- long march to freedom,
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa - ORCID: 0000-0002-8766-914X
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Chapter Information
Chapter Title
Releasing the Prisoners of Hope: Dante’s Purgatorio Breaks the Chains of the Born Frees
Authors
Victor Houliston
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-458-8.07
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2021
Copyright Information
© 2021 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
A South African Convivio with Dante
Book Subtitle
Born Frees’ Interpretations of the Commedia
Editors
Sonia Fanucchi, Anita Virga
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
212
Publication Year
2021
Copyright Information
© 2021 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-458-8
ISBN Print
978-88-5518-457-1
eISBN (pdf)
978-88-5518-458-8
Series Title
Studi e saggi
Series ISSN
2704-6478
Series E-ISSN
2704-5919