Dante’s Feisty Women: Undermining Medieval Misogyny

A talk presented by Professor Rodney Lokaj, Associate Professor of Italian Philology, Università degli Studi di Enna, “Kore” (Sicily, Italy). Prof. Lokaj will be looking at the position of absolute privilege Dante affords certain female figures in the Divine Comedy. It will be based on Paradiso III, a canto featuring Piccarda, a noblewoman of Florence, but with direct references to both Francesca, an adulteress condemned to Hell yet teaching us still today about Love, and Clare of Assisi, who played a vital role at Francis’ side. In English.