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Dante Symposium

- (part of a series)

Location: Rare Books and Special Collections 102 Hesburgh Library (View on map )

Poster Dante Symposium

The Center for Italian Studies is pleased to host a two day symposium in celebration of 30 years of the Devers Program in Dante Studies and the Devers Series in Dante and Medieval Italian Literature at Notre Dame:

Global Dante Translation and Reception
A Dante Symposium Celebrating 30 Years of the Devers Program in Dante Studies and the Devers Series in Dante and Medieval Italian Literature
Department of Special Collections, Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame

Featuring the exhibition:

“‘What through the universe in leaves is scattered’ (Par. 33.87): Mapping Global Dante in Translation”

Selections from the John A. Zahm, C.S.C., Dante Collection

The symposium explores the global translation and reception of Dante’s works, highlighting cross-cultural interpretations, regional adaptations, and evolving scholarly approaches. Through lectures and panels spanning Africa, East Asia, the Americas, and Europe, it examines how Dante’s Divine Comedy continues to inspire diverse literary, academic, and artistic traditions worldwide.

Particpants: Marco Sonzogni (Victoria University of Wellington); Ted Cachey (UND); Clíona Ní Ríordáin (UND); Kathleen Boyle (UND), Dennis Looney (University of Pittsburgh, Modern Language Association [retired]); Joseph Rosenberg (UND); Henry Weinfield (UND, emeritus); Kristina Olson (George Mason University); Elizabeth Coggeshall (Florida State University); Jacob Blakesley (University of Rome, Sapienza); Vittorio Montemaggi (UND, London / Von Hügel Institute, Cambridge); Rebecca Bowen (UND), Valentina Mele (Marie Curie Fellow, UND/ University of Pavia); Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė (University of Manchester); Jonathan Noble (Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, UND); Silvano Mo Cheng (Peking University); Michel Hockx (UND); Chiara Sbordoni (UND Rome); Jieon Kim (UND), Inha Park (UND); Salvatore Riolo (UND); Daragh O’Connell (University College Cork).

Symposium Program

Thursday, September 25

9:00–9:30 AM — Welcome

9:30–11:00 AM — Opening Lecture
Marco Sonzogni (Victoria University of Wellington)
“Whose Dante? Time and Place for Timelessness and Placelessness: A Transoceanic Testimony”
Chair: Ted Cachey (University of Notre Dame)
Respondent: Clíona Ní Ríordáin (University of Notre Dame)

Coffee Break — Scholars Lounge, Hesburgh Library

11:30 AM–1:00 PM — Roundtable Discussion:
American Dantes. Traditions, Translations, Transformations (Eds. Z. G. Barański & T. J. Cachey, University of Notre Dame Press, 2025)
Chair: Elizabeth Coggeshall (Florida State University)

Panelists (tentative):

  • Kathleen Boyle (University of Notre Dame)
  • Dennis Looney (University of Pittsburgh, emeritus)
  • Joseph Rosenberg (University of Notre Dame)
  • Henry Weinfield (University of Notre Dame, emeritus)
  • Kristina Olson (George Mason University)

1:00–2:30 PM — Lunch (McKenna Hall)

2:30–4:00 PM — Lecture
Jacob Blakesley (University of Rome, Sapienza)
“Dante in Africa”
Chair: Dennis Looney (University of Pittsburgh, MLA, retired)
Respondent: Kristina Olson (George Mason University)

Coffee Break — Scholars Lounge, Hesburgh Library

4:30–6:00 PM — Panel: “New Directions” I
Chair: Vittorio Montemaggi (University of Notre Dame, London / Von Hügel Institute, Cambridge)

  • Rebecca Bowen (University of Notre Dame)
    “Dantean Other Worlds: Crafting the Commedia for a Renaissance Readership”
  • Valentina Mele (Marie Curie Fellow, University of Notre Dame / University of Pavia)
    “‘No, Kid, Don’t Enter Here’: The Berkeley Renaissance’s Californian Dante”
  • Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė (University of Manchester)
    “Dante’s Translations and Reception in 20th- and 21st-Century Lithuania”

6:00 PM — Reception and Celebration Dinner (14th Floor, Hesburgh Library)

Friday, September 26

9:30–11:00 AM — Panel: Dante in East Asia
(Co-sponsored by the Dante in East Asia Working Group)
Chair: Jonathan Noble (Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, University of Notre Dame)

Lecture:
Silvano Mo Cheng (Peking University)
“Becoming Dante: More on Dante Translation and Reception in China”
Respondent: Michel Hockx (Director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, University of Notre Dame)

11:30 AM–1:00 PM — Panel: Dante in East Asia II
Forthcoming volume: Dante in East Asia: Proceedings, eds. J. Blakesley, A. Brezzi, R. Pepin, C. Sbordoni
Chair: Chiara Sbordoni (University of Notre Dame Rome)

  • Jieon Kim (University of Notre Dame)
    “‘The common mental language' to Dante and Korean: 단테의 시적 표현과 우리말의 관용적 표현”
  • Inha Park (University of Notre Dame)
    “Teaching Dante in Korea: Translation, Reception, and Localization of Dante in Post-Korean War South Korea”
  • Salvatore Riolo (University of Notre Dame)
    “‘Trasumanar significar per verba’: The Global Translations of the Divine Comedy in the Zahm Dante Collection”

1:00–2:20 PM — Lunch (McKenna Hall)

2:30–4:00 PM — Panel: “New Directions” II
Chair: Ted Cachey (University of Notre Dame)

  • Daragh O’Connell (University College Cork)
    “‘Duppy Conqueror’: Lorna Goodison’s Jamaican Dante’s Inferno”
  • Beth Coggeshall (Florida State University)
    “The Commedia as Transmedia Franchise? Dante in Convergence Culture”

Evening — Exhibit Viewing / Library Reception / Dinner

Saturday, September 27

Dante Society of America Graduate Student Conference
Graduate Student Coordinator: Beatrice Rosso (University of Notre Dame)

Originally published at italianstudies.nd.edu.