Archetypal images, Carl Jung believed, when elaborated in tales and ceremonies, shape culture's imagination and behavior. Unfortunately, such cultural images can become stale and lose their power over the mind. But an artist or mystic can refresh and revive a culture's imagination by exploring his personal dream-images and connecting them to the past. Dante Alighieri presents his 'Divine Comedy' as a dream-vision, carefully establishing the date at which it came to him (Good Friday, 1300), and maintaining the perspective of that time and place, throughout the work, upon unfolding history. Modern readers will therefore welcome a Jungian psychoanalytical approach, which can trace both instinctual and spiritual impulses in the human psyche. Some of Dante's innovations (admission of virtuous pagans to Limbo) and individualized scenes (meeting personal friends in the afterlife) more likely spring from unconscious inspiration than conscious didactic intent. For modern readers, a focus on Dante's personal dream-journey may offer the best way into his poem.
Author(s): Gwenyth E. Hood
Series: Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, 30. Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, 76
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 198
City: Berlin
Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1. Dante, Dreams, Jung, and His Composition Process
Chapter 2. Young Dante and His Contemporaries Interpret Dreams
Chapter 3. The 'Anima' and Divine 'Eros': Beatrice, Lady Philosophy, and Gemma Donati
Chapter 4. Three Beasts or Four in the Dark Wood: Dante and the Shadow of His Civilization
Chapter 5. Neutrals, Acheron, Limbo, Infants, and Virtuous Pagans
Chapter 6. Limbo and Change
Chapter 7. Shadows in Upper Hell: Francesca and Paolo, Ciacco, and Filippo Argenti
Chapter 8. Deeper Shadows: Brunetto Latini and Ugolino of Pisa
Chapter 9. From Satan, to Cato, to Christ: Virgil and the Reconciliation of Reason
Chapter 10. Beatrice, the Heavenly Spheres, and the Rose of Paradise
Bibliography
Index
