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Being All Red Just When You're Supposed To Be All White: PURGATORIO, Canto II, Lines 13 - 24
Season 2 Episode 12
The pilgrim Dante and his guide, Virgil, may not know where to go next, but their answer may be arriving more quickly than they could imagine. Someth…
3 years, 3 months ago
Sunrise With Nowhere To Go: PURGATORIO, Canto II, Lines 1 - 12
Season 2 Episode 11
The sun's coming up. The sky is turning orange. And night is dropping the scales of Libra. Could it get better? Well, yes, the pilgrim Dante and his …
3 years, 3 months ago
Part One Of "What Is Purgatory?"
Season 2 Episode 10
At the end of PURGATORIO, Canto I, l'd like to stop and start a larger discussion of what Purgatory is. It may surprise you to learn that it's fairly…
3 years, 3 months ago
Lost And Found In Purgatory: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 112 - 136
Season 2 Episode 9
We come to the end of PURGATORIO, Canto I. Cato has disappeared. Virgil and Dante wander around (despite being told exactly what to do). And Dante th…
3 years, 3 months ago
Just Tell Your Story And Stay Pliant: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 85 - 111
Season 2 Episode 8
Virgil has replied to Cato--and now it's Cato's turn to answer back. This time, Cato doesn't seem so threatening. He seems more willing to help Virgi…
3 years, 3 months ago
Cato, Marcia, And The Problems They Cause: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 49 - 84 (Part Two)
Season 2 Episode 7
Our second episode on this tough passage. Here, we focus on Cato and Marcia, two big problems in the text. Why and how is Cato redeemed? Or is he? An…
3 years, 3 months ago
Virgil Out Of His Depths--Or Maybe Out Of Dante's: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 49 - 84 (Part One)
Season 2 Episode 6
We have come to one of the strangest moments so far in COMEDY: the moment we recognize the lone old man is in fact the Roman pagan Stoic suicide Cato…
3 years, 3 months ago
A Lone Old Man Who Disrupts COMEDY And Changes The Rules Of The Afterlife: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 28 - 48
Season 2 Episode 5
As Dante the pilgrim gazes at the gorgeous sky, he finds an old man standing next to him, a figure who will startle us (if not the pilgrim) and who w…
3 years, 3 months ago
Laughter And Loss, The Essence Of Being Human: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 13 - 27
Season 2 Episode 4
Dante the poet leads us in a slow turn toward Dante the pilgrim, his "fictional" alter ego, who is looking up at the heavens--that is, at Venus, at f…
3 years, 4 months ago
Of A Poet, His Hubris, And His Doubts: PURGATORIO, Canto I, Lines 1 - 12
Season 2 Episode 3
These are the opening lines of PURGATORIO, in whcih we start, not with the Dante the pilgrim (as we did in INFERNO), but with Dante the poet, who put…
3 years, 4 months ago