Dante Without Borders: Translation, Transcultural Heritage, and Reception of the Dantean Works in non-Western Culture

Dante Without Borders: Translation, Transcultural Heritage, and Reception of the Dantean Works in non-Western Culture

Deadline for abstract proposals (300 words): August 31st, 2023

Publisher: Brill - Literary Reception & Art Reception series (TBC)


Dante is widely regarded as a prominent figure in the Italian language and culture, despite Italy not existing as a unified polity during his time. However, over the centuries the Florentine has also been a fundamental stylistic and existential model for numerous authors worldwide.

In his commentary on the relationship to the Commedia, T.S. Eliot ascribed Dante’s enduring success to his ability to convey universal concepts through his writings. This universality can nowadays be observed in numerous works inspired by his legacy such as Lao She's Ghost Song, Hem Chunder Banerjee's Chhayamoyi, Hovhannes Shiraz's poem Armenian Dantesque, and Lu Yang's video art installation Delusional Crime and Punishment, exhibited at the Asia Society of New York in 2023.

This project aims to explore and illustrate the transcultural reception of Dante's works, particularly in non-Western cultures, to assess the potential universality of his literary production.

In this collected volume, we are seeking contributions analyzing the work of writers, poets, translators, painters, and visual artists who have incorporated Dantesque references in their own texts or artistic productions in order to address the following questions:

How Dante’s literary archetypes have been reimagined by non-Western artists and authors?
How do readers from non-Western cultures engage with his works?
Is Dante primarily an Italian figure, or does the broad reception of his works within and beyond Western culture indicate his fundamental transcultural significance?
Is his figure necessarily representative of Western culture or can it transcends it?

Contributions should cover one of the  following areas:

Latin America and the Caribbean
Africa and the Middle East
Asia

Timeline

Deadline for abstract proposals: August 31st, 2023 
Response to proposals: September 30d, 2023
Completed articles due: February 1st, 2024

The abstract should be sent to the editors’ email addresses:  ccaputi@gradcenter.cuny.edu  and bcutolo@gradcenter.cuny.edu.