Required Texts
(all texts are available through BB or in digital format, with the exception of the last one)
- Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Volume 1: Inferno, Volume 2: Purgatory, Volume 3: Paradise. Edited and translated by Robert Durling (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, 2003, 2013). You must use this edition, which is also available as e-book through CCNY Library. For each canto assigned you must read both the “Notes” following the canto and the “Additional notes” at the end of the book.
- Angela of Foligno, The Book of Divine Consolation of the Blessed Angela of Foligno, trans. Mary G. Steegmann (London: Duffield and Company, 1909. (selections)
- Angela of Foligno. Memorial. Ed. Cristina Mazzoni. John Cirignano. Cambridge: Brewer, 1999. (selections)
- Saint Catherine of Siena as seen in her letters. Scudder, Vida Dutton Scudder. London: J. M. Dent; New York: E. P. Dutton, 1905. (pp. 1-24 and 109-114). https://archive.org/details/saintcatherineof00cath/page/24/mode/2up. (selections) or http://www.domcentral.org/trad/cathletters.htm. (T278, T255)
- Petrarch, The complete Canzoniere. Transl. S. Kline, 2002. http://poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Italian/Petrarchhome.htm. (selections)
- Nicolò Machiavelli. The Prince. Translated by W. K. Marriott, 1998. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1232/1232-h/1232-h.htm. (selections)
- The Italian Renaissance Reader. Edited by Julia Comaway Bondanella and Mark Musa. London: Meridian, 1987. ISBN 978-0452010130. (selections)
Digital projects
Dante
The World of Dante (University of Virginia)
Cornell University Library (IMAGE ARCHIVE)
Petrarca
Petrarchive (Indiana University)
Boccaccio
The Decameron (Project Gutenberg)
Caterina da Siena
Recommended Secondary sources (available on Blackboard)
- Phil Harris, “Machiavelli and the Global Compass: Ends and Means in Ethics and Leadership.” Journal of Business Ethics1 (2010): 131-138.
- Marilyn Migiel, The Ethical Dimension of the Decameron. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015. (Introduction)
- Cristina Politano, “Angela da Foligno: The Path to Spiritual Authority and the Severing of Family Bonds.” Carte italiane1 (2019): 1-15.
- Lisa Tagliaferri, Lyrical Mysticism: The Writing and Reception of Catherine of Siena, PhD Dissertation. The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 2017. (Selections)
Suggested Films
- Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Meraviglioso Boccaccio, Italy, 2015.
- Pier Paolo Pasolini, Decamerone, Italy, 1971.
- Victor Cook, Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic, USA, 2010.
- John Frick Dowdle, As Above, So Below, USA, 2014.
Other Recommended Texts
- Dante Alighieri, Inferno. Translated by Mary Jo Bang (Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2012). This is a contemporary translation/adaptation by poet Mary Jo Band with illustrations by Henrik Drescher, a readable version of the most famous part of the Comedy.
- Giovanni Boccaccio. The Decameron. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by G. H. Mcwilliam (Second Edition). Penguin Classics, 2003.
