Dante's Inferno

The room was hot but silent as Dr. Giuseppe Mazzotta began to read from Canto 1:

Midway upon the journey of our life

I found myself within a forest dark,

For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say

What was this forest savage, rough, and stern,

Which in the very thought renews the fear.

So bitter is it, death is little more;

But of the good to treat, which there I found,

Speak will I of the other things I saw there.

Dr. Giuseppe Mazzotta, the Sterling Professor of Humanities for Italian at Yale University, visited campus last Thursday to deliver a lecture on the role education plays in Dante's Inferno.

I've never seen Isaacs Auditorium so full. They had to bring out extra chairs just to fit everyone in, and Dr. Mazzotta did not disappoint.  This was honestly the best lecture I've ever attended.

Admittedly, I am a creative write/religion double major and a fan of the Comedia, so I may have a bias here, but it was more than just interesting.  For Dr. Mazzotta, Dante isn't just an area of expertise.  Dante is also his passion.  You could hear it in his voice and see it in his animated hand gestures.

Dr. Mazzotta said that the Commedia is a journey of both mind and body, that for Dante simply knowing what justice is is not enough to make a person just.  The path up to the top of Mt. Purgatory begins with the road down into Hell.  The journey of conversion involves both intellect and passion.

Intellect and passion.  I think that's what made Dr. Mazzotta's lecture so outstanding.  Not only did he know Dante inside and out, he had such a strong passion for Dante that this 700-year-old poem suddenly seemed relevant to our lives today.

When President Lemons cut off the questions from the audience and thanked Dr. Mazzotta for coming, I thought, wow, it's over already?  Then I checked my cell phone and saw that an hour and a half had just flown by.