Monday 17 October, 7pm
A lecture/performance on Dante’s masterpiece by Franco Ricordi
Franco Ricordi will start by illustrating his philosophical interpretation of Dante’s Comedy, he will then analyze parts of some of the Cantos. In the second part of the lecture/performance he will recite extracts of the Comedy by heart, in order to express the theatricality of the text which, in an analogy with the great Poems of the Antiquity from Homer to Virgil, is an “oral” text above all. In this context Franco Ricordi will underline the difference between “Dante the Author” and “Dante the Character”: the latter, essential for the comprehension of The Paradise in particular, is in fact a dramatis persona, in a constant dialogue, only identified with the Author himself at the end of the Comedy. The lecture will also highlight the analogies with William Shakespeare, where “Dante the Character” seems similar and at the same time antithetical to Hamlet, often described by Shakespeare as his alter-ego. These analogies between the two greatest poets of what Harold Bloom describes as the “Western Canon” have also been observed by Thomas Carlyle and Thomas S. Eliot.
This event is organised within the framework of the 22nd Week of the Italian Language in the World
Franco Ricordi is a philosopher, actor, theatre director and artistic director. He is currently working on one of the most original and evocative interpretations of the western thought. Among his publications, with Mimesis Edizioni: Shakespeare filosofo dell’essere (2011); Pasolini filosofo della libertà (2013); L’essere per l’amore (2015); Il grande teatro shakespeariano (with Elisabetta Pozzi, 2016)
The Italian Cultural Institute will not admit anyone showing covid-19 symptoms such as a continuous cough, a cold and a temperature. You are strongly invited to wear face covering during events, maintain social distancing and use wall-unit sanitizers, as a matter of courtesy to the clinically vulnerable. We keep windows open whenever possible to ensure ventilation and thoroughly clean our rooms before and after each event. Thank you for your co-operation. We reserve the right not to admit any late comers.
