Book Section
This introduction to A World of Possibilities: The Undivine Legacy situates Teodolinda Barolini’s The Undivine Comedy (1992) as a transformative intervention in Dante Studies that reoriented the field toward narratological and historicized readings of the Commedia. Reflecting personally on her own intellectual formation under Barolini and Joan Ferrante, Kristina M. Olson redefines Barolini’s concept of ‘detheologizing’ not as a negation of theology but as a methodological recalibration that liberates Dante’s poem from inherited interpretive frameworks. The introduction traces the organization of the essays collected in this volume — across narrative, historical, theological, visual, and theoretical axes — demonstrating the broad reach of Barolini’s scholarship and its capacity to generate new critical perspectives.
Keywords: detheologizing; narratology; historicizing; Beatrice; Brandeis, Irma
| Title |
Introduction
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| Author(s) |
Kristina M. Olson
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| Identifier | |
| Description |
This introduction to A World of Possibilities: The Undivine Legacy situates Teodolinda Barolini’s The Undivine Comedy (1992) as a transformative intervention in Dante Studies that reoriented the field toward narratological and historicized readings of the Commedia. Reflecting personally on her own intellectual formation under Barolini and Joan Ferrante, Kristina M. Olson redefines Barolini’s concept of ‘detheologizing’ not as a negation of theology but as a methodological recalibration that liberates Dante’s poem from inherited interpretive frameworks. The introduction traces the organization of the essays collected in this volume — across narrative, historical, theological, visual, and theoretical axes — demonstrating the broad reach of Barolini’s scholarship and its capacity to generate new critical perspectives.
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| Is Part Of | |
| Place |
Berlin
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| Publisher |
ICI Berlin Press
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| Date |
November 4, 2025
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| Subject |
detheologizing
narratology
historicizing
Beatrice
Brandeis, Irma
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| Rights |
© by the author(s)
Except for images or otherwise noted, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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| Language |
en-GB
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| page start |
1
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| page end |
11
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| Source |
A World of Possibilities: The Legacy of The Undivine Comedy, ed. by Kristina M. Olson, Cultural Inquiry, 37 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2025), pp. 1–11
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References
- Alighieri, Dante, La Commedia secondo l’antica vulgata, ed. by Giorgio Petrocchi, Società Dantesca Italiana, Edizione Nazionale, 2nd rev. edn, 4 vols (Florence: Le Lettere, 1994)
- Barolini, Teodolinda, The Undivine Comedy: Detheologizing Dante (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) <https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400820764>
- Barolini, Teodolinda, La ‘Commedia’ senza Dio. Dante e la creazione di una realtà virtuale, trans. by Roberta Antognini (Milan: Feltrinelli, 2003)
- Barolini, Teodolinda, ‘Notes toward a Gendered History of Italian Literature, with a Discussion of Dante’s Beatrix Loquax’, in Dante and the Origins of Italian Literary Culture (New York: Fordham University Press, 2009), pp. 360–78 <https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt14bs01r.19>
- Barolini, Teodolinda, ‘“Only Historicize”: History, Material Culture (Food, Clothes, Books), and the Future of Dante Studies’, Dante Studies, 127 (2009), pp. 37–54; repr. in Barolini, Dante’s Multitudes: History, Philosophy, Method (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 2022), pp. 3–21 <https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.21996052.6>
- Barolini, Teodolinda, Dante’s Multitudes: History, Philosophy, Method (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 2022)<https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.21996052>
- Ferrante, Joan M., Dante’s Beatrice: Priest of an Androgynous God (Binghamton, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992)
Cite as:
Kristina M. Olson, ‘Introduction’, in A World of Possibilities: The Legacy of The Undivine Comedy, ed. by Kristina M. Olson, Cultural Inquiry, 37 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2025), pp. 1-11 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-37_01>