The French philosopher Paul Virilio said “When you invent the ship, you invent the shipwreck.” I’ve thought in Dante’s case he did just the opposite — he created the “shipwreck” (the pilgrim’s plight) in order to invent the “ship” (the journey). He did compare his anxious, troubled pilgrim, as you note, to a swimmer “…with exhausted breath, having escaped from sea to shore…” The pilgrim’s “dark night of the soul” certainly seems to echo Psalm 88 (and your theme of Fear, perhaps).
You point out in the character description that Virgil was dispatched by Beatrice; it might be worth noting the key lineage of this directed intercession — tasked from the Blessed Virgin Mary to Lucia to Beatrice (who of course assumes the task of guiding and teaching after Virgil, and is then succeeded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux).
You mention three themes; others also noted his aspiration for (what I would call) “right-ordered” politics, and, of course, finding Beatrice (the guide of and to his soul). Any woman that earns this flattery (“Behold, a deity stronger than I; who coming, shall rule over me”) is bound to feature prominently in his quest!
I’m curious if you or Lisa have an opinion on the enigmatic “greyhound”? Is it simply symbolizing salvation? Is it meant to infer Christ? Cangrande della Scala? The Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII?
Hello Corey! As always, great insight! The enigmatic greyhound has been interpreted in various ways. According to Mandelbaum’s notes, Dante assumes the role of a prophet, foretelling the arrival of a saviour. Hollander offers another perspective, suggesting that Dante was referring to an emperor who would restore order to the political turmoil surrounding Florence at the time. What are your thoughts? :)
P.S. I would love to discuss your lovely comment in the chat thread, I can copy paste it there myself, or , if it's not too difficult (so it could be under your name) could you please add it?
Wow - if this is any indication of what is to come we will be Dante scholars at the end of this read along. Vashik - amazing job with the write up for today. Extremely helpful notes. Thanks for all your hard work.
Love this post so much! It’s also interesting how sleep is seen as an unawareness of reason here (also in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress if I recall correctly) but sleep leads to dreams, which may also bring profound revelations (mentioned in Genesis).
That's so interesting! I have got Pilgrim's Progress on my shelf but haven't read it yet! I just opened a chat thread for this Canto! Feel free to join :)
Vashik, first and foremost, my most heartfelt gratitude for organising this. I have just finished the first canto and I’m in awe. It resonated with me so much I felt a jolt to my consciousness. That was a huge surprise - I never thought I could understand it in the first read, much less relate to it, especially working with an online version without footnotes (still waiting for my copy to arrive) - but somehow the meaning and the significance just seeps through.
Canto 1 just speaks to me on a deeply personal level. I have a feeling that the journey is only going to get more personal as we move along. How many times have we suddenly found ourselves within a shadowed forest, after journeying half of our life’s way, having no idea how we got there? When did we even start veering away from the trail? Sometimes we wonder, how the hell did we end up in such places, don’t we?
> I cannot clearly say how I had entered
the wood; I was so full of sleep just at
the point where I abandoned the true path.
I feel this sentiment so much it is almost painful. There have been times where it feels like I have been sleepwalking through life. Just doing what I’m supposed to do, what I am expected to do, without knowing or even wondering why I should do it.
And then we get this:
> And just as he who, with exhausted breath,
having escaped from sea to shore, turns back
to watch the dangerous waters he has quit,
so did my spirit, still a fugitive,
turn back to look intently at the pass
that never has let any man survive.
This is my favourite moment so far. Another one that hits hard. I didn’t know that epic similes are a ‘Dante thing’ until reading your post. In fact I didn’t even notice those are similes to begin with. And they made up most of my highlights. Now I know ;) This made me realise that we don’t have to know what it is to be able to appreciate good stuff. Sometimes it’s even better to read with an empty mind and just noting what we find interesting, without knowing the precursors that we are ‘supposed to be well acquainted with’. After all we can always add those later, as we go along. All we need is just to start with whatever we already have in the toolbox of our mind.
Few more things I love -
The beautiful language and the imagery!
> the sun was rising now in fellowship
with the same stars that had escorted it
And the idea that the dark forest is the ruins of the Garden of Eden - love it!
Also love love love the artworks! Particularly the Piranesi one in this post.
Like many other readers, The Divine Comedy has been on my list, but I never quite felt ‘ready’ for it. I have to read Virgil first, and Homer, and at least some of the central Greek and Roman authors/philosophers before coming to Dante, otherwise I won’t be able to fully appreciate the significance of it all — was the main reason (*cough* excuses) I’ve been putting it off. Even when Benjamin McEvoy put this on the Hardcore Literature Bookclub last year, I skipped it, thinking that it was, still, not the time yet. Not now, later. Judging from these thoughts, it might well be *never* instead of later. Some works we simply put on too high a pedestal that we would never read them without a push.
And this is the very push I needed. This readalong, and the fact that it’s you who organise it, make me ditch all those unreasonable reasonings and just dive into it blindly (as you saw, even without footnotes!) I'm quite positive that this is going to be a life-changing read, so once again, thank you so so so much for organising this and making the resources available to everyone - I cannot imagine the amount of effort behind this - you’re a saint!
Lastly, if there's one takeaway from this comment (is this still a comment?), whether you are reading it now or six months later, realise that you can always start right *now*, at this moment. There’s no ‘best time’ to read any work. The work will find you at the best time, always.
I'd definitely be interested in a subsequent read-along of Boethius.
I have put a reminder to my calendar for the December 25th of 2025 (This is when we are finishing The Divine Comedy) to plan reading Boethius! :)
Count me in!
me too
The French philosopher Paul Virilio said “When you invent the ship, you invent the shipwreck.” I’ve thought in Dante’s case he did just the opposite — he created the “shipwreck” (the pilgrim’s plight) in order to invent the “ship” (the journey). He did compare his anxious, troubled pilgrim, as you note, to a swimmer “…with exhausted breath, having escaped from sea to shore…” The pilgrim’s “dark night of the soul” certainly seems to echo Psalm 88 (and your theme of Fear, perhaps).
You point out in the character description that Virgil was dispatched by Beatrice; it might be worth noting the key lineage of this directed intercession — tasked from the Blessed Virgin Mary to Lucia to Beatrice (who of course assumes the task of guiding and teaching after Virgil, and is then succeeded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux).
You mention three themes; others also noted his aspiration for (what I would call) “right-ordered” politics, and, of course, finding Beatrice (the guide of and to his soul). Any woman that earns this flattery (“Behold, a deity stronger than I; who coming, shall rule over me”) is bound to feature prominently in his quest!
I’m curious if you or Lisa have an opinion on the enigmatic “greyhound”? Is it simply symbolizing salvation? Is it meant to infer Christ? Cangrande della Scala? The Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII?
Thanks — I’ll be happy to paste it in the chat thread — I wasn’t quite sure where to post comments.
Hello Corey! As always, great insight! The enigmatic greyhound has been interpreted in various ways. According to Mandelbaum’s notes, Dante assumes the role of a prophet, foretelling the arrival of a saviour. Hollander offers another perspective, suggesting that Dante was referring to an emperor who would restore order to the political turmoil surrounding Florence at the time. What are your thoughts? :)
P.S. I would love to discuss your lovely comment in the chat thread, I can copy paste it there myself, or , if it's not too difficult (so it could be under your name) could you please add it?
I would love to touch upon Paul Virilio! :)
Wow - if this is any indication of what is to come we will be Dante scholars at the end of this read along. Vashik - amazing job with the write up for today. Extremely helpful notes. Thanks for all your hard work.
Thank you so much Melissa!
Love this post so much! It’s also interesting how sleep is seen as an unawareness of reason here (also in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress if I recall correctly) but sleep leads to dreams, which may also bring profound revelations (mentioned in Genesis).
That's so interesting! I have got Pilgrim's Progress on my shelf but haven't read it yet! I just opened a chat thread for this Canto! Feel free to join :)
I would likely be in for Boethius…
It seems many people would, it's a short work, just over 100 pages long. We can cover it in just a month or two :)
“Educare:” lead on!
Headsup: long essay ahead - buckle up ;)
Vashik, first and foremost, my most heartfelt gratitude for organising this. I have just finished the first canto and I’m in awe. It resonated with me so much I felt a jolt to my consciousness. That was a huge surprise - I never thought I could understand it in the first read, much less relate to it, especially working with an online version without footnotes (still waiting for my copy to arrive) - but somehow the meaning and the significance just seeps through.
Canto 1 just speaks to me on a deeply personal level. I have a feeling that the journey is only going to get more personal as we move along. How many times have we suddenly found ourselves within a shadowed forest, after journeying half of our life’s way, having no idea how we got there? When did we even start veering away from the trail? Sometimes we wonder, how the hell did we end up in such places, don’t we?
> I cannot clearly say how I had entered
the wood; I was so full of sleep just at
the point where I abandoned the true path.
I feel this sentiment so much it is almost painful. There have been times where it feels like I have been sleepwalking through life. Just doing what I’m supposed to do, what I am expected to do, without knowing or even wondering why I should do it.
And then we get this:
> And just as he who, with exhausted breath,
having escaped from sea to shore, turns back
to watch the dangerous waters he has quit,
so did my spirit, still a fugitive,
turn back to look intently at the pass
that never has let any man survive.
This is my favourite moment so far. Another one that hits hard. I didn’t know that epic similes are a ‘Dante thing’ until reading your post. In fact I didn’t even notice those are similes to begin with. And they made up most of my highlights. Now I know ;) This made me realise that we don’t have to know what it is to be able to appreciate good stuff. Sometimes it’s even better to read with an empty mind and just noting what we find interesting, without knowing the precursors that we are ‘supposed to be well acquainted with’. After all we can always add those later, as we go along. All we need is just to start with whatever we already have in the toolbox of our mind.
Few more things I love -
The beautiful language and the imagery!
> the sun was rising now in fellowship
with the same stars that had escorted it
And the idea that the dark forest is the ruins of the Garden of Eden - love it!
Also love love love the artworks! Particularly the Piranesi one in this post.
Like many other readers, The Divine Comedy has been on my list, but I never quite felt ‘ready’ for it. I have to read Virgil first, and Homer, and at least some of the central Greek and Roman authors/philosophers before coming to Dante, otherwise I won’t be able to fully appreciate the significance of it all — was the main reason (*cough* excuses) I’ve been putting it off. Even when Benjamin McEvoy put this on the Hardcore Literature Bookclub last year, I skipped it, thinking that it was, still, not the time yet. Not now, later. Judging from these thoughts, it might well be *never* instead of later. Some works we simply put on too high a pedestal that we would never read them without a push.
And this is the very push I needed. This readalong, and the fact that it’s you who organise it, make me ditch all those unreasonable reasonings and just dive into it blindly (as you saw, even without footnotes!) I'm quite positive that this is going to be a life-changing read, so once again, thank you so so so much for organising this and making the resources available to everyone - I cannot imagine the amount of effort behind this - you’re a saint!
Lastly, if there's one takeaway from this comment (is this still a comment?), whether you are reading it now or six months later, realise that you can always start right *now*, at this moment. There’s no ‘best time’ to read any work. The work will find you at the best time, always.
An amazingly erudite guide! You are like a new Virgil to Dante and for all of us, (lost) souls!
May I dare posting a link here to a small bilingual write-up of mine, where Dante meets Proust in their own languages?
If it's not comme il faut, just tell me. I'm very new to Substack and I simply don't know yet very well how to go about it. Thank you! :)
Absolutely in love with these epic similes and how they seem to be able to describe something indescribable
And the Piranesi illustration as well! How did you end up finding that?
What a fabulous and thought-provoking analysis of the first canto. Thank you so much.
Thank you for doing this for us. Dennis
Amazing writing Vashik, thank you! I’d most happily be joining in Boethius :)