Dante? Oggi?

Why should we continue to read Dante’s Divine Comedy today? In spite of the media appeal of public readings of the poem, the book sells mostly as a school text and not because of the readers’ genuine interest. Nowadays Dante is a cultural fetish, a popular icon, who is praised but not really read. Dante is kept alive artificially. Indeed, his language is far too difficult, cannot be easily understood by everyone, his notions are distant from our sensibility or not related to our present culture, and his book is extremely difficult and complicated. The study of Dante, and of literature in general, is not up-to-date and is out of touch with current concerns. Granting the marginal role of literature in our society, Dante and his complexities can nevertheless contribute to broaden our mental and cultural horizons.