Dante himself illustrates the reasons for our devotion to the masters. Whether they are direct teachers (those we attended in school, university, in life) or ideals (those we attended to have read them). Dante explains why every year it is useful to remember that April 23 is the day of Shakespeare and Cervantes, founding fathers of European literature with him. More than due deeds, they are debts of gratitude towards the teachers, as if they were our family, our fathers and our mothers. Because without exercising admiration (not necessarily unconditional) towards our parents-teachers-tutelary gods, finding themselves together in them, the world would stop, culture would lose its powerful transmission belt. We risk forgetting the value of admiration. What the pilgrim Dante had experienced on his journey.
As soon as out of the dark forest, threatened by the she-wolf, Giving frightened is about to retrace his steps when he sees a shadow approaching in which he almost immediately recognizes Virgil: «you are my teacher and my author». “Author” in the sense of a person worthy of being believed and respected, as well as a model to follow (and perhaps to overcome) for his moral stature and the quality of his style. Within a few lines, Dante expresses not only his surprise but also his unconditional gratitude towards the master and author, brilliantly elected as his guide in theInferno is in the Purgatory: and in bursts he defines it, as well as an object of study and love, the source of a “wide river” (of poetry), as well as the “honor and light” of the other poets.
In the course of the poem, up to the threshold of Paradise, Virgil is called by Dante with variable names including “my sweet duke”, “my dear duke”, “sweet father”, “very sweet father”, “high doctor”, “good teacher”, “true father”, even “the most what a father “and” sea of all the wisdom “. Reverence for affection and intellectual esteem. Until the final heartfelt appeal of XXX del Purgatory, when the pilgrim, annihilated by the presence of Beatrice, addresses him as a “fantolin” who for fear “runs to his mother”. With that infantile anxiety, Dante turns to the teacher without finding him, because Virgil has just finished his task and has vanished, leaving the pilgrim “stupid” and Stazio, mute at his side.
On the other hand, in every moment of the journey we feel protection towards the “son”, the care and at times the severity of the good teacher who must carry out the mission assigned to him by Beatrice, concerned with “giving him full experience” (magnificent formula that defines the master’s task towards the disciple: giving him ” full experience “). Among the infinite reading options proposed by the exegetes, someone has also identified in the poem a sort of Bildungsroman or pedagogical travel. There is no doubt that Dante trusts a lot in the formative dimension of the “journey”, precisely for subsequent experiences, starting with the relationship he establishes with his mentor Virgil. To whom he offers his dedication and also his tenderness, putting in Stazio’s mouth what he himself probably could have said aboutEneide: «Which mother / you smoked me, and you were a nurse». Therefore paternity and maternity together.
Despite all the doubts about the reasons why Dante places him in the “turba grama” of the sodomites, even Brunetto Latini is the object of the devout admiration of the ancient disciple. This time, apparently, a direct pupil (and not as remote as Virgil) albeit sporadic. We are in the XV ofInferno when an exclamation shakes him announcing the presence of the old master who, tormented (and disfigured) by a rain of fire, pulls a hem of his robe from below, exclaiming: «What a marvel!». Dante himself was quick to express his surprise: “You are here, Ser Brunetto.” Even along the sand of the violent against nature, the teaching is brought back to a tender familiarity: “and now I am saddened / the dear and good fatherly image / of you when in the world from now to now / you taught me how to ‘eternal’. Another sublime definition of the potential of teaching, capable of communicating to the learner what it means to overcome the oblivion of posterity (“herterning oneself”) through intellectual and creative force. It is obvious that in expressing his gratitude to the old master Dante is well aware that he is the man destined to “hertern himself”. But the whole encounter with Brunetto is a balancing act between gratitude and self-affirmation or self-incensation (through the master’s praise). Alighieri, it is known, if he sins it is for pride, ever since, in Limbo, he ranks alongside the major classics (Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan and Virgil) proudly declaring to be “sixth among so much wisdom”.
Dante tells us that the meeting with the teacher, becoming an exchange of esteem, trust and affection, it is an unexpected revelation that changes your life even if you then go away in other ways. The fact is that the best writers are not afraid to declare their debts near and far: just think of certain judicious combinations or triangulations for Italy: Manzoni-Gadda-Arbasino, Pirandello-Sciascia-Consolo, Ariosto-Calvino-Del Giudice … think of Primo Levi’s and Pasolini’s admiration forInferno Dante, to Boccaccio’s affinities evoked by Aldo Busi, or to the infinite series of Italian poets devoted to Petrarch, up to the Hermetics and beyond. Returning to the celebrated of tomorrow, let’s think of the pages that Milan Kundera dedicated to Don chisciotte generator of the modern novel (as well as in Kafka, where according to Kundera himself the knight of La Mancha appears disguised as a land surveyor). Or to the relations of sonship that Melville, Dickens, Beckett have established with the Bard… Who perhaps, if they could have traveled alive in their afterlife, would have gladly met him to pay him their due homage and express their gratitude. In the meantime, for us the Day of the Book is the right occasion to remind ourselves, thanks to the sweet teachers (fathers and mothers) Cervantes and Shakespeare (and of course Dante), «come l’uom s’etterna».
The initiatives
Also this year a program full of readings, meetings, readings, editorial initiatives marks the World Book and Copyright Day, an event sponsored by Unesco to promote the reading, publication of books and the protection of intellectual property. through copyright. Since 1996, the Day has been organized every year on April 23 with numerous events around the world. The choice of date is symbolic: around this date, in fact, in 1616, three giants of world literature died such as Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Garcilaso Inca de la Vega. The aim of the day is to encourage people to discover the pleasure of reading and to enhance the contribution that the authors make to the social and cultural progress of humanity. Tbilisi, Georgia was chosen as the capital of 2021 Book and Copyright Day.
April 22, 2021 (change April 22, 2021 | 09:33)
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