The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.

Hello, we might say that Dante belongs to the ages.

We wouldn't be the first to think that,

and we won't be the last.

In some ways, his poetry is as fresh as anything written today.

His devotion, his passions, his sensitivity, his power, his art. And yet,

Dante Alleghary was also very much of his time as anyone who likes to read footnotes can attest.

Theological discussions are rooted in fierce contemporary debates.

Historical references are to figures important to him and his peers.

Characters are specific to his period, his location, even his own life.

And so, and we seek to wrestle with the work as great as the

divine comedy, we're invited into Dante's world, his mind, his relationships with

others, his understanding of his place in the cosmos, and everything about the man,

the poet, the human being, becomes of interest.

Enter the Scholars.

Today we have a discussion with Professor Elizabeth Kogashaw,

who has sliced an essential aspect of life

from the Dantian cake.

It's a question so essential and so obvious it's almost hard to see. What did

Dante think of friendship? Well, what do we think of friendship? We know it when we see it. It's hard to define.

But jumping back seven centuries or more to a world dominated by their own struggles, political and religious, their own social norms,

their views of who people were and how they should interact, and throw in Dante's own idiosyncratic genius, well, the question becomes a fascinating one.

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