Neohelicon
Volume/Issue:
Volume 28: Issue 2
A Late 20th-Century American Reimagining of Dante's Commedia
Author:
RobertJ. Andreach 2127 LocustRoad, Sea Girt New Jersey 08750 U.S.A 2127 LocustRoad, Sea Girt New Jersey 08750 U.S.A

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Pages:
191–204
Online Publication Date:
26 Oct 2004
Publication Date:
31 Dec 2001
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1013850610292
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Abstract  

Shelley Berc's A Girl's Guide to The Divine Comedyis a reimagining of Dante Alighieri's Commedia as a late20th-century American play that makes telling points about contemporary culture. In part 1 a female Dante descends into hell not to learn the nature of sin as her medieval counterpart does but to realize the depth of the female artist's exile from the political and artistic life of the dominant, androcratic, culture. Part 2's satire inverts the medieval purgatorial ascent with real-estate-agent Virgil and porn-star Beatrice trying to persuade Dante, now a male, to accept the culture's money-based, celebrity-oriented values. Part 3 of each work culminates in a vision. One difference, however, is that whereas the medieval vision is empyreal, the contemporary vision is terrestrial. A second difference is that the contemporary Dante, a girl again, relates in a narrative the vision of community for which she was put to death. Understanding the penalty exacted for a minority perception, she voluntarily returns to the underworld to give voice to other exiles.

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Cover Neohelicon
Neohelicon
Print ISSN:
0324-4652
Online ISSN:
1588-2810

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Neohelicon
Language English
Size B5
Year of
Foundation		 1973
Volumes
per Year		 1
Issues
per Year		 2
Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11.
Responsible
Publisher		 Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 0324-4652 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2810 (Online)

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