Book Section
Nassime Chida
Detheologize to Historicize
This essay argues that detheologizing — as theorized by Teodolinda Barolini — is the necessary precondition for historicizing Dante’s Commedia. By dismantling the interpretive habits shaped by Dante’s theological framework through a re-examination of the formal structures of the poem, detheologizing makes possible a systematic assessment of the significance of the historical context. This in turn allows for historicized readings that complicate traditional interpretations.
Keywords: detheologizing; historicizing; Farinata degli Uberti; Inferno 10; Guido da Montefeltro; Inferno 27
| Title |
Detheologize to Historicize
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| Author(s) |
Nassime Chida
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| Identifier | |
| Description |
This essay argues that detheologizing — as theorized by Teodolinda Barolini — is the necessary precondition for historicizing Dante’s Commedia. By dismantling the interpretive habits shaped by Dante’s theological framework through a re-examination of the formal structures of the poem, detheologizing makes possible a systematic assessment of the significance of the historical context. This in turn allows for historicized readings that complicate traditional interpretations.
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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
historicizing
Farinata degli Uberti
Inferno 10
Guido da Montefeltro
Inferno 27
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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 |
125
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| page end |
133
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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. 125–33
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References
- Barolini, Teodolinda, The Undivine Comedy: Detheologizing Dante (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) <https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400820764>
- Barolini, Teodolinda, ‘Dante and Francesca da Rimini: Realpolitik, Romance, Gender’, Speculum, 75 (2000), pp. 1–28 <https://doi.org/10.2307/2887423>; repr. in Barolini, Dante and the Origins of Italian Literary Culture (New York: Fordham University Press, 2006), pp. 304–32 <https://doi.org/10.5422/fordham/9780823227037.003.0015>
- 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 Sympathy for the Other, or the Non-Stereotyping Imagination: Sexual and Racialized Others in the Commedia’, Critica del testo, 14 (2011), pp. 177–204; repr. in revised form in Barolini, Dante’s Multitudes: History, Philosophy, Method (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 2022), pp. 22–44 <https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.21996052.7>
- Barolini, Teodolinda, Dante’s Multitudes: History, Philosophy, Method (Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 2022) <https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.21996052>
- Brilli, Elisa, ‘Dante’s Biographies and Historical Studies: An Ouverture’, Dante Studies, 136.1 (2018), pp. 133–42 <https://doi.org/10.1353/das.2018.0004>
- Brilli, Elisa, ‘Dante e la storia: gli studi storici nelle Letture Classensi (12 dicembre 2020)’, in Cinquant’anni di letture classensi: lingua, storia e modernità di Dante, ed. by Giuseppe Ledda, special issue of Letture Classensi, 49 (2021), pp. 69–88
- Carpi, Umberto, La nobiltà di Dante (Florence: Polistampa, 2004)
- Chida, Nassime, ‘Guido da Montefeltro and the Tyrants of Romagna in Inferno 27’, Romanic Review, 112.1 (2021), pp. 97–119 <https://doi.org/10.1215/00358118-8901827>
- Chida, Nassime, ‘Dante and the legacy of Montaperti’, Studj Romanzi, n.s., 19 (2023), pp. 163–74
- Delmolino, Grace, ‘Fraudulent Counsel: Legal Temporality and the Poetics of Liability in Dante’s Inferno, Boniface VIII’s Liber Sextus, and Gratian’s De penitentia’, Speculum, 98.3 (2023), pp. 727–62 <https://doi.org/10.1086/725297>
- Dionisotti, Carlo, ‘Scuola storica’, in Dizionario critico della letteratura italiana, ed. by Vittore Branca, 3 vols (Torino: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1973), III, pp. 352–61
- Inglese, Giorgio, Vita di Dante. Una biografia possibile (Rome: Carocci, 2015)
- Marucci, Valerio, ‘Introduzione’, in Francesco Torraca, Commento alla Divina Commedia, 3 vols (Rome: Salerno, 2008), I, pp. 9–32
- Marucci, Valerio, ‘Francesco Torraca e Dante’, L’Idomeneo, 31 (2021), pp. 97–106
- Olson, Kristina M., ‘Uncovering the Historical Body of Florence: Dante, Forese Donati, and Sumptuary Legislation’, Italian Culture, 33.1 (2015), pp. 1–15 <https://doi.org/10.1179/0161462214Z.00000000030>
- Padoan, Giorgio, Il lungo cammino del ‘poema sacro’. Studi danteschi (Florence: Olschki, 1993)
- Pasquini, Emilio, Dante e le figure del vero. La fabbrica della ‘Commedia’ (Milan: Bruno Mondadori, 2001)
- Santagata, Marco, Dante. Il romanzo della sua vita (Milan: Mondadori, 2012)
- Torraca, Francesco, Il Canto V dell’ ‘Inferno’ (Rome: Nuova Antologia, 1902)
- Vasina, Augusto, I Romagnoli fra autonomie cittadine e accentramento papale nell’età di Dante (Florence: Olschki, 1965)
Cite as:
Nassime Chida, ‘Detheologize to Historicize’, 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. 125-33 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-37_06>