Dante, L’Italiano – Week of the Italian Language in the World

The 21st edition of the Week of the Italian Language in the World was dedicated to Dante Alighieri, the “Father of the Italian Language.” Dante, who wrote the Divine Comedy in the vernacular rather than Latin, brought literary authority and prestige to Italian and shaped the direction this new language would take. He argues for the eloquence of the vernacular in his remarkable essay De Vulgari Eloquentia and for its efficacy in his Vita Nuova. Key passages from these works will highlight Dante’s extraordinary linguistic creativity and his enduring contributions to the beauty and power of Italian.

The speaker:

PROF. VIRGINIA JEWISS received her PhD in Italian literature from Yale University and taught at Dartmouth College and Trinity College’s Rome campus before returning to Yale as Senior Lecturer in the Humanities and Director of the Yale Humanities program in Rome. She has translated the work of numerous Italian authors and film directors, including Luigi Pirandello’s short stories, Roberto Saviano’s Gomorrah, Melania Mazzucco’s Vita, and screenplays for Paolo Sorrentino, Matteo Garrone, and Gabriele Salvatores. Her translation of Dante’s Vita nuova is forthcoming.

You can rewatch the lecture through our Facebook. 

This event was organized in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington (Italian Embassy) and was free of charge. “The Week of the Italian Language in the World” is an event promoted yearly by the cultural and diplomatic network in the third week of October. It focuses on a theme that acts as the leitmotif of a vast cultural program to promote the diffusion of the Italian language.

The location hosting this event was sponsored by Women of Dartmouth.