Dante's universalism: Stefano Prandi on the pages of Corriere degli Italiani

The 19th Week of the Italian Language in the World took place from 21 to 27 October. For the occasion, the publication dedicated to the Italian-speaking community, its cultural heritage, and integration of immigrant citisens in Switzerland, Corriere degli italiani, has published a special section on Dante Alighieri to mark the 700th anniversary of his death. Among the articles published was an interview on the universalism of the Great Poet and its Comedy with Stefano Prandi, Director of USI Institute of Italian studies.

Dante's poem has been translated into over sixty languages, captivating cultures around the globe, all very different from the poet's own reality. Stefano Prandi remarks. "The reason was well explained by Thomas Stearns Eliot in a 1920 essay: "Dante", he wrote, "is the most universal of modern language poets". The profound reason for Dante's ability to speak to everyone is his mastery in making concrete and almost tangible the most subtle emotions, the most abstract concepts, through a poem that presents itself as an extraordinary concentration of meaning".    

The director of ISI also points out that the Comedy is not only World’s heritage but also an heritage of humanity “it is indeed the celebration and epitome of all mankind”, underlining how Dante's contemporaneity resides in particular in how he questions the meaning of our existence, as well as in that "dangerous" balance between fiction and truth that is more relevant than ever in contemporary society.  

The full interview (in Italian) written by Valeria Camia is available at the following link:
https://corriereitalianita.ch/luniversalismo-di-dante-e-il-mondo-moderno/