In the last episode of WALKING WITH DANTE, I helped you understand the sources and textual problems in this second metamorphosis from the seventh of the evil pouches (the malebolge) in INFERNO's great ring of fraud. Two become one, two beasts become one, and both become nothing. Now let's talk through the implications of the passage and follow out some of its premises and conclusions. We're about to get very meta. But you knew that already. Here are the episodes of this episode of the podcast WA...
Apr 20, 2022•23 min•Season 1Ep. 151
First, a guy burns up, turns to ashes, comes back to life, and prophesies the future. Then a centaur run by with snakes and dragons on his back. And if that wasn't enough, now one of the most daring metamorphoses of all. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch the second metamorphosis in the seventh evil pouch in the sub-circles of the thieves. This passage is so complex that this episode is the first of two on it. Poor Angello. He never knew what hit him. Here are the segments of this episode of ...
Apr 17, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 150
Vanni Fucci has run off, wrapped up in snakes. But he's now just prey for Cacus, a centaur who arrives toting lots of snakes and even a dragon. Can it get any more dramatic? Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this strange passage in which we get a centaur who doesn't look much like his classical representations in Virgel, Ovid, and Livy--passages in which he's not even a centaur! This passage may explain the insistence on poetics throughout the seventh evil pouch, the seventh of the malebol...
Apr 13, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 149
Vanni Fucci has given his big speech, complete with a clear statement of his crime/sin and an opaque statement of the future of Dante's friends and family (and even the poet himself) in Florence. But we're not done with Fucci. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for his final moments in Dante's INFERNO. Fucci gives God a vulgar hand gesture, is wrapped up in snakes, and runs off, leaving our poet with the last laugh. Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:21] My English translati...
Apr 10, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 148
We have watched a sinner burn up from a snakebite and reconstitute right in front of the pilgrim Dante's eyes. But who is this damned guy? The answer to that question is as complicated as it gets. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the revelation of the sinner (Vanni Fucci), the problems with the historical record, and his sin (theft, although maybe not). Vanni Fucci comes shrouded in historical ambiguities. And he comes into INFERNO comes hauling behind him a giant prophecy about Dante's f...
Apr 06, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 147
Our pilgrim, Dante, and his guide, Virgil, have come down to a place where they can see into the darkness of the seventh of the malebolge, the evil pouches that make up the eighth circle of fraud in hell. And what a sight they see! A pit of writhing snakes, one sinner bitten, then incinerated and reconstituted, right before their eyes. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we slow-walk through Dante's masterwork COMEDY. Hell is about to get wild. The poet, too! Here are the segments of this episode of WA...
Apr 03, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 146
Dante the pilgrim has wanted a good, close look into the seventh of the evil pouches, the seventh of the malebolge that make up the great landscape of fraud in the eighth circle of hell. And boy, does he get what he wants! Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as the pilgrim and his guide, Virgil, slip down the wall and catch a glimpse of a nightmare of snakes, a tangle of them--that almost rivals the tangle of literary allusions the poet makes in a mere twelve lines. Here are the segments of this episode o...
Mar 30, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 145
Dante is still out of breath because of the arduous climb out of the sixth of the malebolge of fraud. But he doesn't want Virgil to know it! Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as the pilgrim Dante hears something he can't understand and wants to get a lot closer to this unintelligible voice. He and Virgil cross the bridge to climb down a bit on the wall and peer into the seventh pit of the eighth circle of hell. Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:17] Virgil is the character ...
Mar 27, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 144
Dante the pilgrim has gotten up to the top of the crag and out of the sixth of the malebolge, the evil pouches that make up the giant eighth circle of hell, the landscape of fraud. The poor pilgrim is out of breath, but Virgil has got no sympathy for him! Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we find perhaps a new role for Virgil in COMEDY and discover that the poet is playing more games with our minds than we ever imagined. Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:27] My English ...
Mar 23, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 143
Dante and Virgil have to get out of the sixth evil pouch, the pocket of the hypocrites. And the only way out is up! Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we set out on this epic climb from the sixth of the malebolge in the giant landscape of fraud, the eighth circle of INFERNO. Virgil is a sure guide. But it's all Dante's effort. And that might say more about COMEDY than we first imagine. Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:48] My English translation of this passage: Inferno,...
Mar 20, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 142
Poor Virgil, put in his place over and over again, ever since the fourth of the malebolge, the evil pouch of the fortune tellers, when he had to rewrite his own epic, THE AENEID. Four cantos of humiliation! He's now had his final humiliation (for now) as he's learned that he shouldn't have ever trusted those demons. But the journey must go on! How? In those dear footprints we saw at the end of Canto XXIII, of course. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin to figure out way out of the sixth of the...
Mar 16, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 141
Hi, I'm Mark Scarbrough and this is the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE. In most episodes of this podcast, we slow-walk passage by passage through Dante's masterwork, COMEDY. But this is an interpolated episode, brought about because of several conversations I've had online with people recently. The question is this: How can I, an atheist, read Dante's COMEDY? I thought I'd answer that problem as well as I can. Here are the segments of this episode of the podcast: [01:24] My backstory with Christiani...
Mar 13, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 140
We come to the end of Canto XXIII and the sixth of the evil pouches, the malebolge, that make up the subsets of fraud in the eighth circle of INFERNO. Virgil has already seen something that has left him gawking, maybe even a representation of his own fate. But Virgil's humiliations aren't over. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the final moments among the hypocrites in hell. There's more to come as the old poet realizes that he's been tricked, that he's been lied to, and that his overconfidence almo...
Mar 09, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 139
We finally arrive at a moment that even our guide Virgil cannot believe. Why is he caught slack-jawed? The answer is more complicated than you might think. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we find that the sixth pit of the subsets of fraud is not just about friars walking around in gilded, leaden cloaks. Rather, it's also about the punishment of figures from the New Testament. In other words, we've come to the Jews. This one is a crazy passage with lots of knots. Let's undo them. Here are the segmen...
Mar 06, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 138
Dante, our pilgrim, has slowed down to talk to two of the hypocrites, who are walking along in their gilded lead capes. But he gets more than he bargained for. He meets some guys who caused much of the chaos in Florence that ruined our poet's life. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we slow-walk with our pilgrim through the rings of hell. We've come to a new place, the "collegio" of the hypocrites, but with the on-going theme: the insane tribalism that destroyed Florence. Here are the segments of this...
Mar 02, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 137
Dante the pilgrim and his guide, Virgil, have come down to the bottom of the sixth evil pouch to escape the demons from the fifth. Here, they find a group of guys in cowls or capes that look sort of like the ones from the abbey at Cluny but that are in fact made out of gilded lead. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we settle into the bottom of the sixth of the malebolge of fraud in the eighth circle of hell. Dante and Virgil are about to find out that fraud is about more than just tricking people. It...
Feb 27, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 136
We've been through the circle of barratry, of political grift--and now it's time to look back over this vast landscape of text in Dante's INFERNO. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I read the entire passage: from Inferno, Canto XXI, line 1 all the way through Canto XXIII, line 57. This is my translation. You can find it in bits and pieces on my website, markscarbough.com . But I'd rather you just sit back and listen to the story. You'll hear Dante's narrative craft and feel his art at work in his tex...
Feb 23, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 135
Dante the pilgrim and his guide Virgil appear to have escaped the nasty demons in the fifth pouch of fraud, down in the eighth circle of Inferno. But they'd better get a move on! The demons are coming fast! How do they know? Because Dante's read a lot. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as the sequences about barratry all come down to meta-literary fantasia on texts, reading, writing, and knowing the world around you. You knew fraud was about the writing of COMEDY. Here's proof! Here are the segments of ...
Feb 20, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 134
Our nameless grifter has proposed a game for the demons: Let's see how many more of my damned ilk I can call out of the boiling pitch for you to torment. The demons back off, he gets ready, and he leaps away to his safety. The demons then go nuts, while Dante, our pilgrim, and Virgil, his guide, sneak away. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this dramatic passage at the end of Inferno Canto XXII and as we move on into Canto XXIII. We are still among the barrators, the political grifters, th...
Feb 16, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 133
Our nameless barrator has a plan for escape. He's been maimed by the demons but he's not finished yet! Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we settle into high-stakes gamesmanship in the fifth of the malebolge (or "evil pouches) in the huge landscape of the eighth circle of INFERNO, the hell of fraud. Things are getting tricky. For this political grifter. For Dante and Virgil. For the demons. And even for the reader. Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:44] My English transla...
Feb 13, 2022•23 min•Season 1Ep. 132
Our nameless barrator has been ripped open--but he's still able to do what grifters do best: sell out his fellow grifters. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at a passage from the fifth of the malebolge, the evil pouches, that make up the eighth circle of fraud in INFERNO. We're among the political grifters--and this one, forked up by the demons, is a particularly oily fellow. Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:33] My English translation of the passage: INFERNO, ...
Feb 09, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 131
Mange-Dog has pulled a political grifter up onto the shore of the boiling pitch and the demons are about to let him have it. But not before Virgil, prompted by our pilgrim Dante, asks him a few questions. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this incredibly violent passage from the fifth of the malebolge, the evil pouches, that make up the eighth circle of fraud in INFERNO. Things are about to get dire and horrific. But what do you expect when you take up with a pack of demons? Here are the s...
Feb 06, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 130
Dante, our pilgrim, and Virgil, his guide, have fallen in with a pack of nasty demons who are on the prowl for any barrators who stick up from the boiling pitch in the fifth evil pouch in the circle of fraud. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we get super literary with this rather simple passage and begin to try to answer the most pressing question for Dante: how do you make your fraudulent story seem real? Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:08] My English translation of...
Feb 02, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 129
Evil Tail has mustered his regiment of insane demons. They're ready to start out, leading our pilgrim, Dante, and his guide, Virgil, along the cliff to the next available bridge. Yet our pilgrim has some quibbles. As well he should have. And Virgil is confident. As well he should be. And the whole thing collapses into irony along with the most adolescent humor in COMEDY. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as COMEDY goes as low as it can in this episode from the fifth of the malebolge, the pit of the poli...
Jan 30, 2022•21 min•Season 1Ep. 128
Dante, our pilgrim, and his guide, Virgil, have been stopped in their tracks by a pack of demons above the fifth evil pouch in the eighth circle of hell. We're in the rings of fraud, the largest landscape in Inferno. And we're standing over the political grifters who are sunk in boiling pitch. The damned sure have it bad. Maybe Virgil and Dante, too. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as one of the demons, Evil Tail, steps out and musters his troops to lead our duo along a cliff until they can find a bri...
Jan 26, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 127
Hi there. I'm Mark Scarbrough and this episode is one of the interpolated ones for the podcast WALKING WITH DANTE. I'd like to pause in Inferno, Canto XXI, before we move on to its end and into Canto XXII to talk about demons in Dante's INFERNO: who they are, why they are, and how they function. No passage from COMEDY in this episode. Just a little to give you some background about Dante's demons because they're becoming more and more prominent in the plot. Here are the segments of this episode ...
Jan 23, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 126
We've seen seen one demon running along the bank. Now here comes a pack of them! They boil out at Virgil who is ready for them with lofty rhetoric and misplaced trust. And even a little contempt for the pilgrim Dante. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I walk through this incredibly dramatic passage from the fifth of the evil pouches (or malebolge) in the eighth circle of INFERNO with its many rings of fraud, this most human sin. There's a lot of low comedy, high rhetoric, and even some of Dante's own...
Jan 19, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 125
The demon has thrown this sinner into the pitch, headed off to collect more in Lucca, and caused the whole horde of demons under the bridge to start their low-comedy, high-violence act. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore more of Canto XXI, more from the fifth evil pouch in the eighth circle of fraud, the longest and more complex part of INFERNO. We're among the the sinners on the political take. We've got a proletarian idyll for a contrast and maybe even some Augustinian allegory in tow. It...
Jan 16, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 124
Dante the poet has gotten caught up in his own simile, which is long, complicated, and unwieldy, enough so that it brings the plot to a standstill. But Virgil to the rescue! The classical poet gets us back to the plot. And what a plot it is! Here comes the first old-school demon we've fully seen, the old medieval morality play demon, the one that's probably lurking under your bed. He's got a grifter by the hoof and he's going up to Lucca back for more. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the...
Jan 12, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 123
WALKING WITH DANTE has been on a holiday hiatus. Now we're back at it, descending to Canto XXI of INFERNO, to the next malebolge, the fifth evil pouch among the sins of fraud. The opening of Canto XXI is as self-conscious as most of these in the sub-circles of fraud. This time, however, the poet names his work (for the second and last time), turns super coy, and offers a lot of metaphoric blather that seems to bring the (comedic?) plot of a standstill. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore thi...
Jan 09, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 122
