lystn

In this lecture, Professor Mazzotta moves from the terrace of pride (Purgatorio 10-12) to the terrace of wrath (Purgatorio 16-17). The relationship between art and pride, introduced in the previous lecture in the context of canto 10, is pursued along theological lines in the cantos immediately following. The “ludic theology” Dante embraces in these cantos resurfaces on the terrace of wrath, where Marco Lombardo’s speech on the traditional problem of divine foreknowledge and human freedom highlights the playfulness of God’s creation. The motifs of human and divine creation explored thus far are shown to converge at the numerical center of the poem (Purgatorio 17) in Dante’s apostrophe to the imagination.