ISCAD5 has just ended. While our speakers are still on their way home, and as we wait to put the conference recordings online, we would like to share some souvenirs of these incredibly enriching two days!
ISCAD5: Emotions & Communities
Conference programme
Conference Booklet: download it here.
When: April 12-13, 2023
Where: Alumni 400, Muzzo Family Alumni Hall, University of Toronto, 121 St. Joseph Street, Toronto ON M5S 3C2. See the conference venues in Practicalities.
Online: Youtube live stream – see below for the links.
Entrance: Free admission (n.b. free tickets for the joint exhibition “How Does it Feel? Dante’s Emotions Today” at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura must be booked on Eventbrite. Slots of 30 minutes for the VR experience are available for the general public on April 13-21, 2023).
April 12, 2023
Follow us on YouTube Live stream.
10 AM – WELCOME & GREETINGS
Luca Somigli (Italian Studies and Goggio Chair)
Fr. Augustine Thompson (Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies, Praeses)
Veronica Manson (Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Director)
10:30 AM – OPENING REMARKS
Elisa Brilli & Giulia Gaimari (University of Toronto)
11 AM – OPENING LECTURE
Gur Zak (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), “Dante’s Political Emotions: Compassion, Envy, and Community in the Purgatorio”
12 PM – LUNCH BREAK
2 PM – SESSION 1
Chair: Giulia Gaimari (University of Toronto)
Beth Coggeshall (Florida State University), “Negotiating Friendships in Dante’s Italy”
Giuliano Milani (Université Gustave Eiffel), “Building Communities Through Shame. On the Tenzone with Forese”
Respondent: Eva Plesnik (University of Toronto, Ph.D. student)
3:30 PM – COFFEE BREAK
4 PM – SESSION 2
Chair: Konrad Eisenbichler (University of Toronto)
Paolo Borsa (Université de Fribourg), “Love and Hope in Dante’s Lyric Poetry”
Giulia Gaimari (University of Toronto), “‘Propuosi di farlo sentire’: Feeling Together in Dante’s Vita Nova”
Respondent: Mia Lofranco (University of Toronto, Ph.D. student)
6 PM – “How does it feel? Dante’s Emotions Today” EXHIBITION OPENING & RECEPTION*
In partnership with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura / Italian Cultural Institute of Toronto, 496 Huron St, Toronto, ON M5R 2R3.
*This event is reserved for conference participants. The general audience is welcome to visit the exhibition on April 13-21. Admission to the exhibition is free, but tickets must be booked on Eventbrite (slots of 30 minutes for the VR experience). https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/594138001757
April 13, 2023
Follow us on YouTube Live stream.
9 AM – SESSION 3
Chair: Justin Steinberg (University of Chicago)
Elisa Brilli (University of Toronto), “Civitas: An Emotional Definition of Dante’s Political Vocabulary”
Laura Banella (University of Notre Dame), “Dante’s Ideal Lyric Community between the De Vulgari Eloquentia and the Commedia”
Respondent: Alice Martignoni (University of Toronto, Ph.D. student)
10:30 AM – COFFEE BREAK
11 AM – SESSION 4
Chair: Laura Ingallinella (University of Toronto)
Kristina Olson (George Mason University), “‘Da lingua che chiami mamma o babbo’: Paternal Grief and Affect in Dante”
Roberto Rea (University of Rome Tor Vergata), “Dante’s Sins: Emotions and Redemption in the Comedy”
Respondent: Alex Bermudez Manjarres (University of Toronto, Ph.D. student)
12:30 PM – LUNCH BREAK
4:00 PM – CLOSING LECTURE (USMC DANTE LECTURE: SPECIAL EDITION)
Introduced by Irene Morra (Principal of Saint Michael’s College in the University of Toronto) & Elisa Brilli (University of Toronto)
Heather Webb (University of Cambridge), “Dante’s Affective Communities”
6 PM – CLOSING RECEPTION*
Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies, Laurence K. Shook Common Room, 59 Queen’s Park Cres E, Toronto, ON M5S 2C4.
*This event is reserved for conference participants.
To read the abstracts of the papers and discover more about ISCAD’s speakers, Download the Conference Booklet here.
With the support of the Department of Italian Studies, University of Toronto, the University of Saint Michael’s College, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto, the U of T, Vice-President, International, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, and the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.
Conveners of the 2023 edition: Elisa Brilli, Giulia Gaimari, Paolo Granata, Laura Ingallinella, Justin Steinberg and William Robins.
ISCAD5: Heads-up!
After the pandemic and 2021 Dante year, ISCAD is back, safe and sound, for its 5th edition.
In 2023, we will host the International Conference on
“Emotions and Communities in Dante” (April 12-13), a tentative programme is available here;
as well as
the Exhibition, in partnership with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto and USMC’s project Teaching in the Metaverse:
“How does it feel? Dante’s Emotions Today” (April 12-21).
Start booking your visit on Eventbrite (slots of 30 minutes for the VR experience): https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/594138001757.
Are you a U of T or Toronto-based artist, musician, photographer, or writer? Please consider sharing your creative work with us by March 24, 2023. The call for creative contributions and supporting materials are available here.
… and while waiting for ISCAD5, you can listen to Toronto Salutes Dante, a series of multilingual readings of Dante’s Inferno featuring Adriene Clarkson, Margaret Atwood, Alberto Manguel, and many other members of our community who joined ISCAD to celebrate Dante’s legacy.
With the support of the Department of Italian Studies, University of Toronto, the University of Saint Michael’s College, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto, the U of T, Vice-President, International, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, and the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.
Conveners of the 2023 edition: Elisa Brilli, Giulia Gaimari, Paolo Granata, Laura Ingallinella, Justin Steinberg and William Robins.
You are still on time to send your creative contributions to “How does it feel? Dante’s Emotions Today”!
New deadline for submission on April 4, 2023.
Check out all the details in the Call for Creative Contributions.
ISCAD during the pandemic
In 2020-2022, ISCAD suspended its activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
While we appreciate the incredible resources that remote work allows us all, we do not believe that the same communication formats can be maintained regardless of the medium used. A virtual seminar will never be the same as an in-person seminar, and in turn, the virtual world allows for projects that would otherwise be unthinkable.
So, for the Dante anniversary in 2021, part of the ISCAD team dedicated themselves to a different project: Toronto Salutes Dante, a series of multilingual readings of Dante’s Inferno open-access.
Discover more about Toronto Salutes Dante.
Toronto Salutes Dante
2021 The Year of Dante
Commemorating the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, Toronto Salutes Dante features thirty-seven Canada-based guests who read Dante’s Inferno in various languages, several for the first time.
In short video clips, well-known personalities of Canadian public and cultural life who are U of T Alumni – including the Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor General of Canada, and the internationally acclaimed writers Margaret Atwood and Alberto Manguel -, as well as professors and students at the University of Toronto, share their voices and fresh memories of their first encounter with the most important Italian author in world literature. For many of our readers, the language they read is a heritage one. Reading Dante’s work in translation and talking about it becomes a way to connect to family histories and reflect on what brought them to dedicate their lives to study and research, while also showcasing the unparelleled multicultural diversity of U of T wider community.
In addition to ten different Italian dialects, readings include Anishinaabemowin, Arabic, Bulgarian, English, Farsi, French, German, Latin, Mandarin, Portuguese, Québécois, Russian, Sanskrit, Slovak, Spanish, Stoney Nakoda, Swedish, Thai, and Ukrainian. All interviews are in English.
Read more about Toronto Salutes Dante on U of T News.
This initiative is from an original idea of Elisa Brilli (Italian Studies/CMS, UofT), George Ferzoco (University of Calgary and Goggio Visiting Professor at UofT), and Nicholas Terpstra (History/Italian Studies), and realized thanks to the invaluable work of two research assistants, Alice Martignoni and Nattapol Ruangsri, and the contribution of UofT’s community. This initiative is sponsored by the Department of Italian Studies, the Emilio Goggio Chair in Italian Studies at the University of Toronto, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Toronto, and Villa Charities.
Listen to Dante’s Inferno as you have never heard it!
Inferno 1 (Anishinaabemowin & English) – Featuring The Rt. Hon. A. Clarkson and M. Nunno (Author of the translation of Dante’s opening lines in Anishinaabemowin)
Download the text: Inferno I in Italian, English, and Anishinaabemowin – lines 1-30 (PDF)
Inferno 2 (Latin) – Featuring Professor Peter King (Philosophy and Centre for Medieval Studies)
Download the text: Inferno II in Italian, English, and Latin (PDF)
Inferno 3 (Abruzzese) – Featuring Prof. George Ferzoco (University of Calgary & Goggio Visiting Professor in Italian Studies)
Download the text: Inferno III in Italian, English, and Abruzzese (PDF)
Inferno 4 (Swedish) – Featuring Prof. Alexander Andrée (Centre for Medieval Studies and University of Saint Michael’s College)
Download the text: Inferno IV in Italian, English, and Swedish (PDF)
Inferno 5 (Portuguese) – Featuring Lorena Sodano (Ph.D. Candidate, Italian Studies)
Download the text: Inferno V in Italian, English, and Portuguese (PDF)
Inferno 6 (Mandarin) – Featuring Rui Xu (Ph.D. Candidate, Centre for Medieval Studies)
Download the text: Inferno VI in Italian, English and Mandarine (PDF)
Inferno 7 (Italian) – Featuring Tatiana Fimognari (UG Student, Italian Studies)
Download the text: Inferno VII in Italian and English (PDF)
Inferno 8 (Ukrainian) – Featuring Dr. Talia Zajac (PIMS Post-doctoral fellow)
Download the text: Inferno VIII in Italian, English, and Ukrainian (PDF)
Inferno 9 (Triestino) – Featuring Prof. Konrad Eisenbichler (Italian Studies/Victoria University)
Download the text: Inferno IV in Italian, English, and Triestino (PDF)
Inferno 10 (Italian) – Featuring Prof. Luca Somigli (Italian Studies)
Download the text: Inferno X in Italian and English (PDF)
Inferno 11 (Italian) – Featuring Alice Martignoni (Ph.D. Candidate, Italian Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XI in Italian (PDF)
Inferno 12 (Italian) – Featuring Dr. Sebastiano Bazzichetto (Italian Studies Alumnus)
Download the text: Inferno XII in Italian (PDF)
Inferno 13 (Genovese) – Featuring Sara Galli (Ph.D. Candidate, Italian Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XIII in Italian, English and Genovese (PDF)
Inferno 14 (Russian) – Featuring Andrei Munteanu (Ph.D. Candidate, Linguistics)
Download the text: Inferno XIV in Italian, English, and Russian (PDF)
Inferno 15 (Calabrese) – Featuring Prof. Paolo Frascà (Italian Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XV in Italian, English and Calabrese (PDF)
Inferno 16 (German) – Featuring William Ohm (Ph.D. Candidate, Germanic Languages & Literatures)
Download the text: Inferno XVI in Italian, English, and German (PDF)
Inferno 17 (Siciliano) – Featuring Prof. Salvatore Bancheri (Italian Studies/Languages UTM)
Download the text: Inferno XVII in Italian, English, and Siciliano (PDF)
Inferno 18 (Slovak) – Featuring Eva Plesnik (Ph.D. Candidate, Centre for Medieval Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XVIII in Italian, English, and Slovak (PDF)
Inferno 19 (Thai) – Featuring Rawitawan Sophonpanich (Thammasat University)*
Download the text: Inferno XIX in Italian, English, and Thai (PDF). *Professor RawitawanSophonpanich is currently working on the first translation into Thai of Dante’s poem. We warmly thank her for sharing a preview of her work with us.
Inferno 20 (French) – Featuring Catia Dignard (Ph.D. Candidate, Hispanic Literatures and Cultures)
Download the text: Inferno XX in Italian, English, and French (PDF).
Inferno 21 (Veneziano) – Featuring Prof. Alberto Zambenedetti (Italian Studies/Cinema Studies)
Download the text:Inferno XXI in Italian, English, and Veneziano (PDF)
Inferno 22 (Arabic) – Featuring Ghassan Osmat (Ph.D. Candidate, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations)
Download the text: Inferno XXII in Italian, English, and Arabic (PDF)
Inferno 23 (Italian) – Featuring Elena Ferranti (Victoria University in the University of Toronto)
Download the text: Inferno XXIII in Italian and English (PDF)
Inferno 24 (Spanish) – Featuring Valeria Tapia Cruz (Ph.D. Candidate, Spanish and Portuguese)
Download the text: Inferno XXIV in Italian, English, and Spanish (PDF)
Inferno 25 (Italian) – Featuring Letizia Tesi (Ph.D. Candidate, Italian Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XXV in Italian and English (PDF)
Inferno 26 (Italian) – Featuring Alessia Berardi (Ph.D. Candidate, Centre for Medieval Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XXVI in Italian and English (PDF)
Inferno 27 (Bulgarian) – Featuring Prof. Greti Dinkova-Bruun (Pontifical Institute of Medieaval Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XXVII in Italian, English and Bulgarian (PDF)
Inferno 28 (Persian/Farsi) – Featuring Mohammad Jamali (Ph.D. Candidate, Italian Studies)
Download the text:Inferno XXVIII in Italian, English, and Persian (Farsi) (PDF)
Inferno 29 (German) – Featuring Prof. Markus Stock (Germanic Languages & Literatures & Centre for Medieval Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XXIX in Italian, English, and German (PDF)
Inferno 30 (French) – Featuring Brianna Daigneault (Ph.D. Candidate, Centre for Medieval Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XXX in Italian, English, and French (PDF)
Inferno 31 (Italian) – Featuring Prof. Elisa Brilli (Italian Studies & Centre for Medieval Studies)
Download the text: Inferno XXXI in Italian and English (PDF)
Inferno 32 (English) – Featuring Kirsten Tarves (Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures)
Download the text: Inferno XXXII in Italian and English (PDF)
Inferno 33 (Sanskrit) – Featuring Prof. Alessandro Graheli (Historical Studies, UTM)
Download the text: Inferno XXXIIII in Italian, English, and Sanskrit (PDF)
Inferno 34 (English & Stoney Nakoda) – Featuring Margaret Atwood, Alberto Manguel, and Trent Fox (Author of the translation of Dante’s opening lines in Stoney Nakoda), with the participation of E. Brilli, G. Ferzoco and N. Terpstra.
Download the text: Inferno XXXIV in Italian, English and Stoney Nakoda (PDF)
(All videos are available on the Department of Italian Studies’ YouTube channel).