Dante and Transgression

The Fourth Interdisciplinary Conference of the Nordic Dante Network

Tampere, Finland, August 20-22, 2009

Download conference programme here.

Abstract deadline: 31 December 2008
Conference language: English

Keynote address:
Prof. William Franke (Vanderbilt University), Language and Transcendence in Dante's Paradiso

Inspired by Dante Alighieri's (1265-1321) poetic imagination, the Fourth International Conference of the Nordic Dante Network will focus on ways of transgressing literary, philosophical, linguistic, moral and other rules. Dante may be understood in the sense of both Dante the Medieval Poet - including the earlier traditions that shaped his work - and Dante the Classic, as viewed through later reception, art and culture. We welcome abstracts on all topics and from all disciplines. Especially encouraged are papers addressing the following themes:

Confluence and conflicts between

  • virtue and vice in fact and fiction
  • literature, philosophy, (negative) theology
  • medieval, modern and postmodern Dante
  • art and politics (exilic imagination)
  • poetics and rhetoric
  • Latin and vernacular in medieval literature and/or Dante's oeuvre
  • All papers are presented in plenary sessions which means that a limited number of proposals can be accepted. (Apart from the keynote speaker, the participants are responsible for their costs of travel and accommodation. The conference fee will be kept as low as possible.)

    The abstracts (max. 400 words, in English) should be e-mailed to paivi.mehtonen@uta.fi by 31 December 2008. Welcome!

    Organiser, on behalf of the Nordic Dante Network:
    Päivi Mehtonen (Academy Research Fellow, Adjunct Professor) paivi.mehtonen@uta.fi

    In collaboration with:
    Glossa: the Society for Medieval Studies in Finland
    Trivium: Tampere Centre for Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies
    Department of Literature and the Arts, University of Tampere
    Alfred Kordelin Foundation

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    Department of History and Philosophy