N. Frye\u2019s DANTE: Annotations:<\/p>\n
La Divina Commedia. <\/em>Rev. ed. Edited by C.H. Grandgent. Boston: D.C. Heath, 1933,\u00a0xlii, 1003 p.<\/p>\n Annotated no. 917<\/p>\n PARADISO:\u00a0 Canto XII:<\/p>\n At the end of this Canto, p. 771, Frye writes this annotation:<\/p>\n CANTO\u00a0\u00a0 XII<\/p>\n 771.\u00a0\u00a0 MM: bottom three lines of\u00a0 endnote 142-145, mentioning “St. Dominic was magister sacri palatii<\/em> in Rome. — The interpretation of\u00a0 these lines is still far from certain. It is noteworthy that of\u00a0 the two parallel cantos, XI and XII, each ends with a\u00a0 puzzle. At bottom of page, Frye adds extended MA:<\/p>\n One of\u00a0 the reasons why a\u00a0 poem like Dante’s is impossible today is that the Maritains & the Barths have to be kept in mutually exclusive compartments.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n In interpreting Dante one comes up first against a kind of analogia<\/span> rationis<\/span> the distinction between visionary & discursive revelations of God. Dante concedes authority to the discursive only to be able to assume it again later; if he illustrates them properly, they will in the end become his commentators, as Solomon has the place of honour in the primary Zodiac. I suspect that this maybe the first of\u00a0 his\u00a0 four levels of interpretation. One then goes\u00a0 on to the analogia<\/span> entis<\/span> and the analogia<\/span> fidei<\/span>, the third or moral & the second or allegorical interpretations respectively. Catholicism & Protestantism, or at least Thomism & Augustinianism, are based respectively on these. Dante being a Thomist Catholic, gives primacy to these, i.e., a mistake for\u00a0 a poet, of course. Dante wants to go on to\u00a0 full anagogy an analogia<\/span> visionis<\/span> which by restating the literal dogma as a vision destroys its dogmatic literalness. The a.e. [analogia<\/span> entis<\/span>] seals off the opening into the a.v. [analogia<\/span> visionis<\/span>] as the a.f. [analogia<\/span> fidei<\/span>] with its greater emphasis on the Word, doesn’t. The crux of\u00a0 the whole matter is, as for Faust, the translation of Logos as Logos & not as Nous, the only other possible translation. The a.e. [analogia entis] makes this translation & is tied up in nature & reason; the a.f. [analogia<\/span> fidei<\/span>], by keeping Logos, provides a means of\u00a0 escape. Another hypothesis would be that Dante puts the a.f. [analogia<\/span> fidei<\/span>] where it belongs, with the gap still sealed off by the a.e. [analogia<\/span> entis<\/span>]. Possibly Inferno<\/span> is most profoundly\u00a0 involved in the a.v. [analogia<\/span> visionis<\/span>], Purg<\/span>. 1-28 in the a.f. [analogia<\/span> fidei<\/span>], Purg<\/span>. 28 – Par<\/span>. 9 (Beulah) in the a.e. [analogia<\/span> entis<\/span>], & Par<\/span>. 10-33 in the a.v. [analogia<\/span> visionis<\/span>], which last may<\/span> turn out a mystical Nirvana rather than a civilized heaven precisely because the a.e. [analogia<\/span> entis<\/span>] is there. Here, the\u00a0 job will be plenty tough.<\/strong><\/p>\n I am now, I hope, in the\u00a0 position of Alice wondering what latitude or longitude she’s in. She not only didn’t know the answer; she didn’t know the\u00a0 meaning of the words she used in the question; yet the question itself made perfect sense & was a question of profound & searching irony for one in literally mid & low earth.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CANTO\u00a0\u00a0 XII<\/p>\n This note is early, but it associates my own view of literal meaning as integritas with Dante’s view of it as symbolic in the modern logical sense. perhaps the sun ties up two parallel approaches, the poetic & discursive, related thus:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n literal (personal-psychological) artefact — a.r.\u00a0\u00a0 person\u00a0\u00a0 —\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 logic & heroism<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n [sign of Mars]<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n allegory of science & history (symbol)\u00a0\u00a0 — a.e.\u00a0 symbol\u00a0\u00a0 —\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 nature & reason<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n [sign of Jupiter]<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n moral myth\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 — a.f .\u00a0 myth *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 —\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 faith <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n [sign of Saturn]<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n anagogy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 — a.v.\u00a0 Person**\u00a0\u00a0 —\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Logos ***<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n each poetic step is anagogic & each discursive one analogical.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n [ *Frye\u2019s Sigla: * \u2018T\u2019 on its side; & ** \u2018T\u2019 on its head; <\/strong>for an account of Frye\u2019s sigla see Robert Denham in CW vol. 5 xlii-xliii and <\/strong>Michael Dolzani, \u201cThe Book of the Dead: A Skeleton Key to Northrop Frye\u2019s Notebooks\u201d <\/strong>in\u00a0 Rereading Frye, The Published and Unpublished Works,<\/em> Edited by David Boyd and <\/strong>Imre Salusinszky, U of T Press, 1999, p. 21]<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" N. Frye\u2019s DANTE: Annotations: La Divina Commedia. Rev. ed. Edited by C.H. Grandgent. Boston: D.C. Heath, 1933,\u00a0xlii, 1003 p. Annotated no. 917 PARADISO:\u00a0 Canto XII: At the end of this Canto, p. 771, Frye writes this annotation: CANTO\u00a0\u00a0 XII 771.\u00a0\u00a0 MM: bottom three lines of\u00a0 endnote 142-145, mentioning “St. Dominic was magister sacri palatii in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-23037","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n