Podcast appearances and mentions of mark scarbrough

Beatrice has finished her case against the pilgim Dante. All that's left is for him to find his way beyond confession and into confession . . . which he does with a major crack-up that leads him to faint for the third time in COMEDY.Before he collapses, the poem begins a series of inversions or reversals that both increase the ironic valences of the passage and give its reader an almost vertigo-inducing sense of Dante's emotional landscape.A difficult passage in the Garden of Eden, here Beatrice accomplishes what she came for. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the slow build-up to the final moment of contrition . . . which mimics the moment when Dante gives way in front of Francesca, back in INFERNO's circle of lust.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:20] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 64 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:15] Dante, from boy to man.[07:26] Recognition, the key to the passage, to contrition, and a possible node of irony.[10:38] The "unbearded" oak and the final crack-up.[13:49] Iarbas and Dido v. Dante and the new Dido.[16:28] Beatrice's venom.[17:27] Dante's beard.[20:00] The angels' departure?[21:16] The meaning of the beast's two natures.[23:53] Glossing the end of the passage: lines 82 - 90.[27:57] Francesca and her physical seduction v. Beatrice and her physical-theological seduction.[33:01] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 64 - 90.

Beatrice continues to lead Dante toward contrition, pointing out both the purposes of her body (or corpse) and the ways he has failed to followed her lofty beauty.She finishes her second salvo at the pilgrim with a rhetorical flourish, showing the reader (and Dante) that she is a master of rhetoric, someone who commands a high, elevated style of poetry--that is, a fusion of the literal and the metaphoric that will become increasingly necessary to describe the PARADISO experience.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at the conclusion of Beatrice's second run at the pilgrim Dante and find the ways that she is directing both him and his poetry.To support the work of this podcast with a small monthly stipend or a one-time gift, please visit this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:09] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 49 - 63. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:19] Glossing the full passage: "beauty" three times, high rhetorical style, low vulgar vocabulary, and an aphoristic ending.[13:15] Rereading Beatrice's second salvo at Dante: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 22 - 63.[15:22] The uneasy but crucial balance between allegorical/metaphorical language and literal/realistic language.[18:57] Beatrice: negative space made flesh.[23:38] Renegotiating COMEDY v. intending these revelations all along.[28:06] High rhetorical style in Dante's vernacular mouth.

Ever since INFERNO, Canto I, we've never fully understood why Dante woke up lost in that dark wood.Now, in the Garden of Eden, Beatrice brings him to the point where he can voice what he did wrong. He can finally offer his confession.It was all about her all along. And maybe about what he wrote. And maybe about another woman who caught his eye. Or maybe all of it at once.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the moment in PURGATORIO in which Beatrice finally brings the pilgrim to his full confession.If you'd like to support this podcast, consider a small monthly stipend or a one-time donation, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:12] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, Lines 22 - 48. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode's entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:16] An easy outline of this passage.[04:27] Recasting Dante's faults into metaphoric language.[09:18] Dante's confession.[12:40] Beatrice and the formal form of "you."[14:34] Her acceptance of Dante's confession, leading him to contrition.[18:15] Beatrice: allegory v. realism.[23:15] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 22 - 48.

Wailing, Dante comes in for Beatrice's impatience. He hasn't responded yet to her charges, so she turns the spear point of her words on him.He cracks . . . and in doing so, loses language, words, the very things that are the heart of his craft.Canto XXXI opens with an intensely emotional scene, meant to bring the pilgrim right to the brink of his ability to handle things . . . about like what happened with Francesca in INFERNO, Canto V.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the second canto of PURGATORIO that is centered on the pilgim Dante's interiority . . . and his craft as a poet.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:49] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 1 - 21. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:36] Prefatory remarks on PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI.[07:02] A node of Dantean irony in a very serious canto.[10:14] Confession, the first step to forgiveness for Dante (but not for the church).[15:49] The master poet and the failure of his language.[24:29] Dante, the cracked crossbow.[28:15] The return of Francesca.[30:34] Rereading PURGATORIO, Canto XXXI, lines 1 - 21.

Beatrice finishes her first indictment of Dante by showing him the fit subject matter for his abundant talent: her and the damned.She accuses him of chasing after false images, then of discounting her own inspiration in dreams. She ends with her final hope: to descend to the doorway of the dead and get the pilgrim started across the known universe.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the final lines of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX: Beatrice's first indictment of Dante.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:25] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 127 - 145. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:16] In praise of Beatrice's elevated rhetoric.[05:20] The erotic tension between Beatrice and Dante.[07:59] First callback in the passage: to either the Siren in PURGATORIO XIX or to the second woman in the VITA NUOVA.[10:22] Second callback: to either Beatrice's eyes or her appearance in a dream toward the end of the VITA NUOVA.[13:43] Third callback: to Limbo (and Virgil).[15:37] Dante's search for the subject matter that will fit his talent.[16:47] Four levels of interpretation for Beatrice's first indictment: literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical.[21:31] When was Dante supposed to purse these failings on the mountain?[23:27] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 127 - 145.

Beatrice is now fully in charge . . . so much so that she can even tell the angels in the chariot with her what they can't understand.She launches into her first indictment of the pilgrim, Dante. Here, she claims that he hasn't fulfilled his talent.He hasn't? With so much of COMEDY behind us?And what if then the point of this journey? Is it poetic craft or personal redemption?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we comb through the first of Beatrice's condemnations of Dante's many failings that have led him to the top of Mount Purgatory.If you'd like to help support this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, please consider donating what you can through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:41] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 100 - 126. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:23] What can the angels in the chariot not know?[08:13] What germinates from heaven, far above the seeds that blow out of the Garden of Eden?[11:15] What was Dante supposed to have done?[15:19] What good was this journey across the known universe?[18:40] How do you stay open to the grace you get but perhaps don't expect?[20:02] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 100 - 126.

Beatrice has offered her first condemnation of Dante, just as his salve and mentor, Virgil, has left the scene. He's stuck across Lethe with the ice sheet encasing his heart. Even the angels surrounding Beatrice in the chariot seem dumbfounded by her vitriol and offer the pilgrim a psalm of consolation . . . which finally makes the ice that has surrounded his heart melt. He ends up wailing.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore this brilliant passage about interiority from the very top of Mount Purgatorio in the Garden of Eden.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:34] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 79 - 99. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:53] One textual reference in the passage: Psalm 30/31: 1 - 8.[07:46] A second textual reference in the passage: Augustine's CONFESSIONS, Book VIII.[09:07] One metaphoric rearrangement in the passage: Beatrice as mother and Dante as son.[11:55] A second metaphoric rearrangement: the melting ice inside of Dante.[19:28] Allegory as art.[22:30] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 79 - 99.

We finally hear the first words from Beatrice's mouth. (We've heard her before but as told by Virgil in INFERNO, Canto II.) She is certainly not person we expected. She's the admiral controlling her ship.She names the pilgrim, names herself, and gets very close to blasphemy in a passage that defies our expectations, about as revelation should.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the moment that Beatrice takes center stage in Dante's masterwork, COMEDY.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:33] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 55 - 78. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:41] The pilgrim finally named: Dante.[09:03] The crux dilemma of orthodoxy: purity versus human feeling.[13:44] Beatrice's ship, plus other ships in COMEDY.[15:29] Beatrice, the admiral.[17:34] Dante's difficulty in naming himself.[20:20] Beatrice, Minerva, and our (or the pilgrim's?) expectations.[23:42] Beatrice's curious blasphemy and questions.[27:09] Dante as a rejuvenated Narcissus.[30:32] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 55 - 78.

The grand parade of revelation has come to a stop across Lethe from our pilgrim, Virgil, and Statius. Everything seems to hold its breath: the constellations stop moving, the crowd goes quiet, one voice calls out for the bride, then a hundred angels appear, calling out for the groom . . . which is surely Jesus, right?We seem to be on the verge of a celestial marriage ceremony, the mystic union of Jesus and his church . . . except Virgil's AENEID gets the last word and darkens the scene considerably.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stand in expectation at the top of Mount Purgatory for the arrival of . . . somebody.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:24] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 1 - 21. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:33] The Little Dipper, the North Star, the chariot, a griffin, and the Bible, all bound up in the longest sentence in COMEDY.[13:59] The resurrection with a reclothed voice (that is, the stuff of poetry).[16:38] Many angels in a very small cart.[19:32] Quoting the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (here and in The Vita Nuova).[21:44] Quoting the tragic prophecy about Marcellus from THE AENEID.[24:43] Inserting Dante and Virgil into Biblical citations.[26:59] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 1 - 21.

The pilgrim has found the perfect perch to see the full scope and length of the parade of allegories at the top of the Mount Purgatory in the garden of Eden.After the griffin and its chariot come seven merry women and seven more somber men. They are complex allegories that have inspired much debate.More than that, they are also an atemporal moment, something outside of chronological time, the way revelation most often happens.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look more closely at the end of the (first half of the) apocalyptic parade our pilgrim witnesses from across the river Lethe.If you'd like to help with the many costs of this podcast, please consider a very small monthly stipend or a one-time gift, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:13] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 121 - 154. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:34] The three theological virtues (or colors)--which cause a rereading of previous moments in the great parade.[09:02] The four cardinal or philosophical virtues, clothed in purple, a deep, imperial red.[12:00] The seven men who end the parade as seen through the now standard (or consensus) interpretation: the latter books of the New Testament.[16:06] Alternate interpretations: the allegories as a parade of revelation, rather than strictly the books of the Bible.[20:38] The metapoetics of living, walking books.[21:24] The temporal anomaly of the grand parade.[24:11] Rereading the entire parade: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 43 - 154.

The parade goes on to include a Roman, two-wheeled, victory chariot between the four animals. It's a brilliant moment, a chariot better than even famous Roman conquerors got, pulled by a griffin, a legendary two-natured creature . . . yet with a curious moment of emptiness right in all of the victory.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we continue deeper into the allegory of the parade of revelation at the top of Mount Purgatory.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:32] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 106 - 120. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation about this passage with me, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:13] The changing nature of allegory at the top of Mount Purgatory.[09:38] The poetics of the passage: extreme concision and more of Guido Cavalcanti's pastoral poetry.[13:26] Roman military history in the passage: Scipio the Younger and Caesar Augustus.[17:41] Roman (or Ovidian) mythology in the passage: Phaëthon and the sun's chariot.[21:39] The griffin: ancient, medieval, and allegorical (but of what?).[27:20] The great aporia: the chariot is empty![28:51] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 106 - 120.

The parade goes on, now that the pilgrim, Dante, is in a good spot to see it.After the twenty-four lords in white come four animals with green fronds as crowns. They are like the Cherubim in both the prophecies of Ezekiel and in the Apocalypse of St. John (or the book of Revelation).Except not really. Or sort of. Well, the poet doesn't have time to explain. Go read the text yourself. And especially the one that doesn't quite agree with what I saw.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we find Dante's irony alive and well, even during the grand parade of divine revelation.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:20] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 88 - 105. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:56] The naturalistic, lush landscape à la Guido Cavalcanti's pastoral poem.[04:49] The constellations, Argus, and the peacock.[06:35] The four "animals" from Ezekiel and the Apocalypse of St. John (or the New Testament book of Revelation).[09:19] Allegorical interpretations of the four animals.[11:19] "Unmoored" allegories in COMEDY: here and with the three beasts in INFERNO, Canto I.[14:02] Dante, the Biblical text, and questions of its inerrancy.[16:25] The direct address tot he reader, perhaps a wild bit of Dantean irony even here in the divine parade.[21:34] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 88 - 105.

The parade goes on! Our pilgrim, Dante, turns back from Virgil's amazement and finds more of the parade coming toward him . . . at least, he does so after he's reprimanded by the lady who stands across Lethe.In this passage, the poet's craft heightens to reveal gorgeous poetry that comes from the apocalyptic tradition but far exceeds its beauty with both the Easter eggs Dante puts in the text and the ways the poetry itself enhances the wonder of the parade at hand.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through our second passage on the parade of revelation in the Garden of Eden at the top of Mount Purgatory.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:19] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 58 - 87. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this podcast episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:09] The tradition of apocalyptic literature and Dante's use of it.[08:44] Biblical references in this part of the apocalyptic parade.[13:54] Contemporary cultural references in the parade.[16:01] Surprises: Dante's changes to Biblical imagery, his Easter eggs to his own text, and his idiosyncratic word choices.[20:07] Possible allegorical interpretations for the twenty-four lords (or elders) and the distance of ten paces between the lights.[25:20] The poetry of the parade: colorful brushwork and gorgeous (if incomplete) reflections in Lethe.[28:43] More on emergent revelation.[31:47] Rereading PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 58 - 87.

As the pilgrim, his poets, and the beautiful lady continue to stand beside Lethe, they see the approaching parade of the apocalypse, which is an example of emergent revelation, the truth coming in slowly and even deceptively.Our poet has set up a poetic space that leaves even Virgil speechless as we witness the first of the parade of multiple, open-ended meanings proliferate in the Garden of Eden.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we catch our first glimpse of Dante's answer to St. John's Apocalypse.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees associated with this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:16] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 31 - 57. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:00] The emergent revelation of the images and sounds.[09:00] The process of perception (and understanding).[14:12] Multiplying meanings in the apocalyptic parade.[20:27] The creation of space for the poetic imagery.[23:11] The second invocation of PURGATORIO.[26:50] The questions of poetic craft in this vision.[28:23] Virgil in the apocalypse.[31:10] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 31 - 57.

Our pilgrim, Dante, and the beautiful lady across Lethe walk on for a bit before the stream bends and the pilgrim ends up facing the right way to see the first flash of light that will signal the great apocalyptic parade in Eden.The opening of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, brings us back to the pastoral world of Guido Cavalcanti's poem before launching us into allegory, theology, morality, and even misogyny.If you'd like to help underwrite the many fees for this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we find ourselves at the front of the great parade in Eden.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:27] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, Lines 1 - 30. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation by dropping a comment, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:07] An introduction to PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX.[06:59] The only canto in COMEDY that begins with a derivative of the word "canto."[08:24] More references to Guido Calvalcanti's pastoral poem.[11:44] A psalm retrofitted to become a beatitude, moving us from the classical world to divine revelation.[14:31] The symbolism (and allegory?) of their paces and the stream's bend.[18:00] Sight and hearing as the basis but not nearly enough, as with Guido Cavalcanti's poem.[19:02] The lady's reaction ("brother") and the pilgrim's reaction (a lack of fear).[21:45] The misogyny from the initial flash of light.[28:59] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXIX, lines 1 - 30.

The beautiful lady winds up her discourse with a corollary that combines both revelation and reason to offer a fulcrum to COMEDY as a whole: The classical world dreamed of Eden.Redemption is a cul-de-sac, returning us to our primal state while also offering us a way to remain readers of the classical world's poetry.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the end of the lady's discourse, the longest speech by a woman yet in COMEDY.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:15] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 134 - 148. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this episode to continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.[02:55] Revelation and reason as coequals in scholastic theology.[06:52] The Golden Age and the Garden of Eden as overlapping spaces and the cul-de-sac of revelation.[09:14] The pilgrim (and indeed, the poem) in the cul-de-sac with the classical poets on one side and the beautiful lady on the other.[12:27] The longest speech by a woman yet in COMEDY.[16:57] Rereading this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 134 - 148.

The lady across the stream continues her answer to the pilgrim Dante's question about the breeze and the water. In this case, she explains the ecology of Eden, offers an understanding of global botany, and finally layers the meaning thick over the rivers of Eden, one of which is the poet's utter invention.The landscape itself is becoming allegorical, moral, theological, even anagogical, all while remaining true to its pastoral form (and roots).Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we delve deeper into the lady's capacious answers and the poet's ever-widening imagination.If you'd like the help defray the many costs and fees associated with this website, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:31] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 109 - 133. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:09] The botany of both Eden and our own world.[07:28] The ecology of Eden: abundance.[11:05] The hydrology of Eden.[14:03] The strange placement of Lethe in Dante's afterlife.[17:15] The poet's reimagination of Eden, including an unprecedented river.[20:23] The vertical layering of meaning onto the pastoral form.[23:09] The inevitable logical faults of an imagined landscape.[25:48] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 109 - 133.

The lady in Eden says she's come to answer the pilgrim's questions. And he's got one. It just might not be the first question on our minds.But it's one that reveals the hall of mirrors that the poet has created in COMEDY, in which the poem itself justifies its own fictional if scientific answers to questions that lead the fictional pilgrim (and the very real reader) to a position of faith, based on the imagined landscape.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the first of the lady's speech with our pilgrim (as well as Virgil and Statius) in the Garden of Eden at the top of Mount Purgatory.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:27] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 85 - 108. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:06] The lady's six-line theological explanation for the Garden of Eden and the fall of mankind.[07:31] The lady's six-line scientific explanation for the breeze on the top of Mount Purgatory.[11:04] The lady's six-line glimpse of Paradise above.[12:54] The pilgrim's question of faith is built off the fictional landscape and its "scientific" answers found in the poem itself.[21:39] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 85 - 108.

The lady in the forest has come to face the pilgrim and his poets across the stream in the forest.The pilgrim clearly feels a sexual attraction toward her, one that might even make us think of his reactions to Beatrice.She, however, has other ideas, like answering their many questions. Except in so doing, she raises even more questions than she has time to answer.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this passage in PURGATORIO in which we first learn we're wandering around in the Garden of Eden.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:37] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 67 - 84. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find it on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:38] Upright and flirty: the many contradictions of the lady in the forest.[07:04] A rare misstep in COMEDY.[08:06] A tough tangle of references from Ovid and the Bible: from pride to sexual attraction to (thwarted) redemption.[15:28] The tenuous connections between the lady's laugh and their doubts, as well as her words and Virgil's presence.[21:17] Her purpose: to offer answers (but not to remove sexual tension).[23:39] The Garden of Eden, utterly reimagined by Dante.[28:23] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 67 - 84.

Our pilgrim, Dante, calls the solitary lady over to him. She can't cross the stream that divides them, but she can dance in place before coming closer to him.All the while, the poet keeps darkening the poetry around her with threatening references in the pilgrim's mouth--that is, classical examples of profane love that end up in tragic circumstances.And all this, despite our poet quoting repeatedly from his rival poet's poem.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we watch meaning get thicker and thicker at the top of Mount Purgatory.If you'd like to help support this podcast by underwriting its many fees, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:30] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 43 - 66. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode to continue the conversation, please find its spot on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:53] What if wandering is the start of some of the most significant journeys?[08:22] My interpretive thesis: The solitary lady is the only fully fictional character in COMEDY.[12:30] The poet Dante is cribbing a pastoral poem by his literary rival, Guido Cavalcanti.[18:14] Two reasons Dante may have cribbed Cavalcanti's pastoral poem: 1) to assuage Dante's own guilt in Cavalcanti's death or 2) to show the limits of Cavalcanti's (and others') poetry.[22:59] Two classical exemplars from Ovid--Proserpina and Venus--darken the passage considerably.[27:48] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 43 - 66.

Our pilgrim continues walking through the old-growth forest, so dark that very little light can get into its cooling shade.He is eventually blocked by two seemingly small things: a little brook flowing to the left and a solitary lady across the way, singing and picking flowers.But the poet Dante gives us hints that all is already not what it seems.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we continue our journey across the top of Mount Purgatory . . . and notice that meaning is becoming layered over the naturalist details our pilgrim innocently notices.If you'd like to help cover the fees for this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, you can do so at this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:07] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 22 - 42. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment about this episode, please do so on my website: markscarbrough.com.[03:03] A glance back to the start of the canto . . . and a glance back to the start of INFERNO.[05:59] More repeated words in the poetry.[07:31] Naturalistic details and the initial layering of metaphysical, moral, or allegorical meaning.[16:30] No geographical understanding of this place (yet) . . . but a literary understanding of it: pastoral poetry.[22:48] The unnamed, solitary lady as an interpretive trap.[24:57] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 22 - 42.

Our pilgrim has been set free--crowned and mitered, in fact--and can wander at will through the dense, thick wood that tops Mount Purgatory.The opening lines of Canto XXVIII are fully from the pilgrim's point of view. They offer us a wealth of naturalistic detail that looks simple on first blush but that will get layered with sedimentary meaning over the next five and a half cantos.This place is unprecedented in all of COMEDY. Let's see it for what it is, without delving into the exact answers to the questions of where we are. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the opening lines of the third "chapter" of PURGATORIO.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:17] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 1 - 21. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:11] First detail: eagerness as the prime motivation.[06:08] Second detail: first hints about the prominent poetics in the passage.[08:42] Third detail: naturalistic imagery that isn't.[11:04] Fourth detail: the beginnings of polyphony (and dissonance).[13:09] Fifth detail: the pine forest at Classe.[14:47] First nuanced point: wandering away and perhaps a resonance with Geryon.[17:50] Second nuanced point: a Saharan wind in this verdant place (and perhaps an echo of Juno's storm that drives Aeneas into Dido's arms).[20:31] First major interpretive node: constancy as the changed strategy for the poem.[23:08] Second major interpretive node: the four verdant or forested landscapes of COMEDY before this one.[31:57] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVIII, lines 1 - 21.

Are there foods from your childhood you can't make better, even with all you know about cooking? We've got a list, despite our current snobbery. We may have written for WINE SPECTATOR and FINE COOKING, but there are some things we crave, even though we know how to make them better.We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of over three dozen cookbooks. If you'd like to see our latest, COLD CANNING, please check it out at this link right here.Plus, we've got a one-minute cooking tip. And we'll tell you what's making us happy in food this week.Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:[01:26] Our one-minute cooking tip: the best way to prep hard winter squash.[03:55] The foods from our childhoods we could never change, despite our current food snobbery.[17:15] What's making us happy in food this week? Chili con queso and banoffee pie!

We have come to the climax of Virgil's in COMEDY: the apex of his character, the moment when he is what he should have been all along, a poignant and fitting summit for this most difficult figure in the poem.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stand at the top of the final staircase on Mount Purgatory and take our first steps into the Garden of Eden with the pilgrim who is ready to continue on his own, with crown and miter in hand, thanks all to Virgil, the best guide he could have had.Please consider supporting this work by offering a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:11] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 124 - 142. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:45] The climax of Virgil's natural talent and learned skill for the soul's journey across the known universe.[14:19] Our first glimpse at the top of Mount Purgatory beyond the stairs.[17:50] The entrance to the Garden of Eden--and a theological problem about Satan.[21:27] The pilgrim, with crown and miter from Virgil.[30:24] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 124 - 142.

We come to the climax of Virgil's character in the poem, the end of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII. Let's take this dramatic and chilling scene in two episodes, starting with the moment our pilgrim, Dante, wakes up from his third dream on the mountain.Virgil steps forward to offer a grand and perhaps new hope. The journey is not about the need for justice. It's now about the search for peace.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this first of two passages where Virgil's character reaches its most accurate and compelling focus.Please support this work with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 109 -123. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:58] Callbacks from previous passages in PURGATORIO as this one begins to wrap up the canticle so far.[12:14] Omitting the erasure of the final "P" on the pilgrim's forehead.[13:37] The only calm awakening from a dream in PURGATORIO.[15:44] Virgil, finally and fully the father-guide the pilgrim has always needed.[23:51] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 109 - 123.

Our pilgrim has lain down on a step of the final staircase of Mount Purgatory, positioned between Statius below and Virgil above him.As he watches the large and bright stars, he suddenly falls asleep to dream of Leah (and her sister Rachel) in an Edenic garden, the hope for self-reflection bound up in the promise of the contemplative life.This dream may well begin to sum up Dante's notion of how a human finds the divine.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we walk through the final dream of PURGATORIO.Consider donating to keep this work afloat by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:29] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 91 - 108. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:05] The players around and in the dream: Cytherea, Leah, and Rachel.[10:40] Three interpretations of the dream. One, a pre-fall Even and a post-redemption Eve in the Garden of Eden.[12:50] Two, a Biblical dream after two classical dreams, but all deeply sexual in nature.[17:26] Three, two modes for revelation: the active life and the contemplative life.[19:03] Dantean psychology: finding the divine in the beloved leads to finding the divine in the self.[23:22] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 91 - 108.

Our pilgrim has entered the flames of lust. For the first time, he is not a voyeur of the torments. He experiences them on the last terrace of lust.He then hears a call to enter Paradise . . . before he falls asleep on the mountain's rocky staircase.Problem is, those flames don't burn up irony. It's thick in this passage. A goat even gets into Paradise!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this final climb on Mount Purgatory before we enter the Garden of Eden.Consider supporting this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:22] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 49 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me about this passage, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:09] Dante's guilt (or creative apex) and Virgil's white lie (or painful memory).[10:02] The angel in Latin and in vernacular Florentine--and perhaps Dante's homesickness.[15:02] The scope of the journey: a half revolution around Mount Purgatory.[18:14] The pastoral, idyllic, Edenic simile to (try to) summarize the moments after the flames.[21:09] The irony in the simile, full of inaccurate reference points.[25:28] Dante, the goat let loose into Paradise.[29:29] Our poet, a world-builder.[30:55] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 49 - 90.

Did you know there are simple additions to recipes that can take your favorite dishes over the top? We've got a list of single ingredients that up the game for all sorts of foods (or even take-out fare).We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of thirty-seven cookbooks and over twenty thousand original recipes. We've made a career out of food and cooking. This podcast is about our passion.We've also got a one-minute cooking tip about farm stands. And we'll tell you what's making us happy in food this week!If you'd like to check out our latest cookbook, COLD CANNING, please click this link.Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:[00:43] Our one-minute cooking tip: Beware of farm stands or farmers' markets with out-of-season produce.[03:12] What's a single ingredients than can improve a recipe? We've got a list of ingredients you can add to individual recipes to make them much better.[14:50] What's making us happy in food this week? Farm-stand tomatoes and Claire's Cornercopia in New Haven, Connecticut.

Our pilgrim stands on the brink of the flames. Virgil has to use every rhetorical trick in his bag to get Dante to move . . . and the only thing that works in Beatrice.In so doing, our poet Dante attempts his first run at defining this desire that is driving him up into the heavens. But he does so in a most curious way: by bringing up Geryon, the monster of fraud.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we stand with our pilgrim before the very real chance that the poem may catch on fire around us!If you'd like to help with the many fees for this podcast, please do so at this PayPal link.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 19 - 48. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment so we can continue the conversation, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:07] Virgil's tight rhetorical argument for getting in the flames.[11:35] The beast of fraud and the problem of credence.[15:47] The final push: Beatrice.[18:12] Dante's first attempt to solve the problem of desire in his theological context.[23:19] Our pilgrim, infantilized--and ready for the flames with an apple.[26:02] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 19 - 48.

Our pilgrim has come to an impasse: the flames of lust. There's no way forward except to step into them. He must finally feel the sufferings that he has witnessed over the course of COMEDY to this point.This suffering comes after a discussion of the craft of poetry, after a unifying vision of the world, and after Dante's own memories of both seeing people be burned alive as capital punishment and being sentenced to the same fate if he returns from exile.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we begin the first lines of the most important canto in PURGATORIO.Consider supporting this podcast by offering a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:53] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 1 - 18. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:52] The unifying, globalizing view to begin this transitional canto.[08:36] The global, totalizing perspective v. the confusion of personal references in the passage.[11:52] The difficulties of handling multiple perspectives in narratives.[16:29] The global perspective v. Dante's personal memories and experience.[24:00] The beatitude in the passage: "Blessed are the pure in heart."[25:42] The beatitudes in all of PURGATORIO . . . and the missing one of the seven from the Gospel of Matthew.[28:26] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVII, lines 1 - 18.

As we pass Arnaut Daniel, the last penitent soul of Mount Purgatory, let's look back over the discussions of poetry and lust in the seventh (and even sixth) terrace of the mountain.Dante has laid out a fairly straightforward theory of poetry through his encounters with three poets. Are these in a logical progression? Are they causally linked, not just sequentially?Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for some final thoughts (at least for now) about poetry, lust, and how we humans make meaning.If you'd like to support this work, please consider donating through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:50] A progression of poets: Forese Donati, Bonagiunta Orbicciani, and Guido Guinizzelli.[07:20] Francesca was indeed an ambivalent figure in INFERNO--but not now, when we read through the gravitational lensing of COMEDY.[12:56] Simone Weil claims that the hope of religion (or for her, Christianity) is to turn violence into suffering, which can then be interpreted.

Guido Guinizzelli has pointed to another figure in the purifying flames of Purgatory's seventh terrace. And now he steps forward, one of the greatest troubadour poets, a model of high-brow poetry and a writer of the sort of lusty verses that led to Francesca's downfall.Arnaut Daniel breaks COMEDY in some ways. He speaks in (a version of) medieval Provençal. But he also gives the final triplicate rhyme by any penitent on the mountain--and these words sum up the action of poetry.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the final words from any penitent in PURGATORIO.Support this work by using this PayPal link.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:32] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 136 - 148. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[02:56] Lines in Provençal--that is, French poetry, the very thing that was a catalyst for Francesca's fatal choice.[04:51] Ornate rhetoric that leads to one of the most renowned troubadour poets of the Middle Ages.[09:02] The possibility of complex irony in Arnaut's speech.[11:07] The final triplicate rhyme from any penitent in PURGATORIO: folly, power, sorrow.[14:42] Refining: the action of penance.[16:46] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 136 - 148.

Ketchup. We all know what it is. But do we? It's not a thing. It's actually a category.Where's the word come from? How was it originally used? When was the first ketchup recipe? How has it become the condiment we know today?We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of over three dozen cookbooks. This podcast is about our major passion in life: food and cooking.If you'd like to check out our latest cookbook, COLD CANNING, please click here.[00:55] Our one-minute cooking tip: Click on "like" for any online content you in fact like.[02:18] All about ketchup! Where'd it come from? Where's the word come from? It's not a thing. It's a category of things. How'd it get to be the stick, thick tomato sauce we know today?[22:02] What's making us happy in food this week: Sichuan fish stew and Chinese food demystified!

Dante has found his poetic father, Guido Guinizzelli, burning in the fires of lust on the final terrace of Mount Purgatory. Our pilgrim-poet has praised his poetic father for the sweet art that will last.Then Guinizzelli takes the discussion further, morphing that sweetness into truth, offering a metaphysical meaning to a physical sensation. He then proceeds to speak exactly in this sort of poetry, which our poet Dante picks up and uses to conclude this fascinating conversation.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through this second and final conversation about the nature of the new poetry and Dante's synthesis of traditions into COMEDY.Please support this work with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:28] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 115 - 135. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[05:00] Corporeal and airy manifestations of the body.[07:55] Girard de Borneil, having been praised, now dismissed.[10:25] High and low poetry v. Dante's synthesis.[12:29] Unpacking too-tight lines about poetry.[15:00] The sweet morphed into the truth.[19:44] Dante's possible hesitation over his own poetic fame and his wild invocation to the truth of it.[23:53] Guinizzelli's validation and expansion into metaphoric space.[28:01] The ending of the conversation: a great example of the sweet new style.[29:50] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 115 - 135.

Guido Guinizzelli has named himself and our pilgrim, Dante, is aghast.He gets lost in a classical simile that almost loses its sense, only to finally find his love for this poetic father and express himself in the straightfoward, new style from which his own poetry was born.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through another complicated but ultimately satisfying passage on the seventh terrace of Mount Purgatory among the lustful penitents.Support this podcast by offering a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend through this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:22] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 94 - 114. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation, please find this episode's entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:21] Guido Guinizzelli substituted a philosophical ideal for feudal love.[07:06] A ridiculously complex simile in the midst of a discussion of the sweet new style.[11:18] Dante finds a father, perhaps one of the goals of COMEDY.[13:06] The pilgrim backs off from homoeroticism with feudal pledges.[15:50] Guinizzelli gets Dante's footprint that even Lethe won't wash away.[17:24] Poetry may ironically offer a hint of its immortality in its materiality.[21:47] Rereading PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 94 - 114.

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Bruce Weinstein, food writer and author of 40 books, 38 of which are cookbooks. His latest, written with husband and frequent collaborator Mark Scarbrough, is “Cold Canning: The Easy Way to Preserve the Seasons Without Hot Water Processing.”   “Cold Canning” offers a primer on easy, safe, budget-friendly preservation. The book has 425 recipes for small-batch jams, jellies, chili crisps, pickles, krauts, kimchis, and more that will safely keep for months to years in the refrigerator or - with the exception of pickle-like foods - in the freezer.   “One of the things that I love about doing this small batch and no processing is that I can use less sugar because I'm not trying to make it shelf stable,” Weinstein explains. “That's a huge difference in taste and in health.”   “Do I think that we should all take all the sugar out of our diet? No, because then life would not be enjoyable at all,” he continues. “Everything in moderation.”   The duo met after Weinstein completed his first book (“We both loved food and we both loved to cook,” he says.) They both had other careers before diving into the food space. Weinstein went to culinary school and then worked in advertising for 20 years before becoming a food writer. Scarbrough was an English professor; he still teaches literature.   Weinstein's eating philosophy: cook, share food, enjoy.   “Eat real ingredients. … It'll make you feel better,” he says. “[You'll be] easy to get along with and people will like you.”    Bruce Weinstein shares what led to his love of cooking, his professional journey, and his favorite Jewish foods. He also talks about the joy and ease of cold canning,  some of his early cookbooks and two non-cookbooks, and his recipe for blackberry conserve, which you can get at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.   Learn more about at CookingwithBruceandMark.com. Follow @CookingwithBruceandMark on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and @CookingWithBruceMark on YouTube.   For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.  

What are the top chain restaurants in the United States? Have we been to them? What do we think about them? You might be surprised by how many we have (or haven't!) been to.We've also got a one-minute cooking tip about better batters for pancakes or cakes. And we're very happy about pork belly this week.We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of over three dozen cookbooks. Our latest is COLD CANNING: small batch preserving and canning without the need of any canner at all. If you'd like to check it out, please find it at this link.Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:[01:07] Our one-minute cooking tip: Never overmix a batter![03:25] The top fifteen chain restaurants in the United States . . . and what we think about them[28:48] What's making us happy in food this week? Pork belly two ways!

We finally come to know who has been our spokesperson for the lustful penitents: Guido Guinizzelli, perhaps the most important Italian poet working before Dante.Guinizzelli explains who the penitents are by using two classical allusions and even making up words to describe their sin, in the ways that poets always manipulate and even invent language.This passage is a shocking example of Dante's changing notion of homosexuality. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through its rather high, ornate rhetoric to discover that in fact there's more fusion that just marriage, than two become one. In fact, our poet is fusing his poetry with Guinizzelli's.Consider underwriting the many fees for this podcast with a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend by using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:52] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 67 - 93. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the comment section for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:10] Why are the mountaineer penitents gawking? What makes them feel rough and rugged?[07:28] The pilgrim Dante receives a beatitude from another poet in the borderland that is Purgatory itself.[09:14] Julius Caesar is slurred as "Queen."[13:20] Heterosexuality is the fusion of male and female: "And the two shall become one."[17:04] Guido Guinizzelli identifies himself, although he's been in the words of this passage all along.[21:26] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 67 - 93.

We've seen the two crowds of the lustful on the seventh terrace of Mount Purgatory and we clearly identified them in the last passage (and on the last episode of this podcast).But Dante the pilgrim didn't know who they were. He's stuck, confused. He then seeks to break out his manuscript and rule his paper to find his way into the shocking revelation that love in the body can exist in more than one form.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we look at this small passage on the seventh terrace, sandwiched between the two big revelations and before the last major discussion of poetry on Mount Purgatory.Please help underwrite the many fees of this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE: [01:51] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 49 - 66. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:34] Reading and interpreting through the passage for its metaphoric, rhetorical, and thematic knots.[14:58] One question from the passage: Why is the body so crucial to this discussion?[17:03] A second question: What about this passage brings up the mechanics of writing?[19:29] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 49 - 66.

Chaos cooking. A new trend. Well, sort of new. About two years old at this point, but it's found it's way into restaurants across the country. What started as a "throw it from the pantry into a pot" technique has morphed into the new version of culinary fusion.We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of more than three dozen cookbooks, including our latest: COLD CANNING, a guide to turning small batches of fresh produce into jams, chutneys, conserves, sauces, chili crisps, dessert toppings, and more, without a steam- or pressure-canner in sight.We have lived through the ages of fusion cuisine and are really intrigued by this new take. It's sloppier and messier, but it's also sort of fun. Plus, we've got a one-minute cooking tip about how to cook faster. And we'll tell you what's making us happy in food this week.Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:[01:12] Our one-minute cooking tip. Smaller things cook faster![04:41] Chaos cooking: what is it, how does it work, and how have you already had an example of it without necessarily knowing it?[23:10] What's making us happy in food this week: fresh New England corn on the cob!

Our pilgrim, Dante, may have opened his mouth to answer how he got to where he is in his corporeal body, but he's interrupted by something completely unexpected: a group of people, moving the opposite direction of everyone else on Mount Purgatory. He's witnessing the moment when love moves the fence. These are the homosexuals on the doorstep of heaven.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I work through the passage that was the inception of this entire podcast and is the best illustration of my thesis that love remakes the world.To support this podcast and underwrite its many fees, please consider a one-time donation or small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:38] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 25 - 48. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment to continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:32] The passage is an interruption of people (à la Cavalcante with Farinata) and of tenses: It moves consistently into the narrative present tense.[05:22] The passage begins with an emphasis on identification and novelty.[06:34] Moving to the left, rather than the right, the new penitents reenact a moment of Christian fellowship and of Francesca's downfall. [09:48] The first revolutionary simile: ants who nuzzle each other.[12:25] The penitents cry out to explain who they are.[15:34] The second revolutionary simile: cranes who migrate in opposite directions.[18:08] Dante may rewrite Jeremiah's prophecy.[20:04] Dante definitely reclassifies homosexuality--which may offer even more explosive implications than he intends.[25:28] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 25 - 48.

The pilgrim, Dante, Virgil, and Statius walk on the narrow ledge between the flames of lust and the drop into the abyss. The penitents in the flames notice that the pilgrim's body makes the flames of lust more colorful . . . the work of any medieval poet in the troubadour tradition when it comes to love!Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we encounter the first penitents in the flames of lust.To support this podcast with a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend, please use this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:26] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 1 - 24. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment on this passage to continue the conversation with me, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:17] Three comments on PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI as a whole: It provides the poet open space for much discussion, it is part of a larger mirroring with the three upper circles of INFERNO, and it is in direct conversation with both INFERNO, Canto XXVI, and INFERNO, Canto V.[07:34] Virgil's offers only one line in this canto just before a bit of time-telling in the passage.[11:50] The pilgrim doesn't have a "sham" or "fictitious" body on the terrace of lust.[16:46] Near the flames of lust, we get a hint of the poet's expansive geographical knowledge.[22:30] The passage may already be about the craft of poetry.[25:24] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXVI, lines 1 - 24.

Fiber-maxxing. It's the latest social-media craze among food and fitness influencers. What is it? Why is it absurd? But also, why does it touch on something very important?We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of over three dozen cookbooks (plus Bruce's knitting books and Mark's memoir). Food and cooking are our passions. We're so happy to be able to share that with you.If you'd like to see our latest cookbook, COLD CANNING, please check it out at this link.Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:[01:19] Our one-minute cooking tip: how to make better chimichurri![03:33] The latest social-media craze: fiber-maxxing. What is it? And why is fiber important?[17:55] What's making us happy in food this week? Summer corn and Bruce's wild take on chili crisp.

Dante, Statius, and Virgil arrive on the seventh terrace of Mount Purgatory filled with the flames of lust.The pilgrim must make his precarious way between those burning fires and the abyss just to his right, a narrow path that may give us a clue to the poet's own fears of lust.This passage is a grab-bag of ideas, hymns, references, and emotions. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore it more fully.Please support this podcast with a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:23] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 109 - 139. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find its entry on my website, markscarbrough.com.[03:55] Three curiosities: a double meaning at line 109, the flaming geography, and the parallels in INFERNO, Canto XXV.[08:13] Three surprising moments in the passage: a bit of humor, a glancing reference to an Aristotelean mean, and a direction connection with our poet.[12:21] A hymn for chastity and a reference to Shadrach, Mishach, and Abednego from Daniel 3.[16:56] Three examples of chastity . . . except the third seems smudged or inaccurate.[23:08] Penance as a medieval medical remedy.[24:19] PURGATORIO, the most human canto, about human development and art, all connected to nature.[26:21] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 109 - 139.

Statius concludes his discourse on embryology by finally answering the pilgrim Dante's question about how souls can take on material attributes in the afterlife . . . and by gently correcting both Virgil's incomplete answer to the question in this canto and Virgil's larger explanation of the soul's journey after death in THE AENEID.This passage is justifiably complicated. Dante's imaginative and intellectual powers are on full display. It's easy to be lost in the details but there are wonders afoot, including the idea that there may be an allegorical reading of the passage that concerns the afterlife of a work of art.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we finish up Statius's discourse on the soul's material attributes in the afterlife before we ascend to the seventh and final terrace of Mount Purgatory.To support this podcast: use this PayPal link.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:49] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 79 - 108. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me by dropping a comment on this episode, please find it on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:25] Statius fuses classical imagery (the fates) and Augustinian thought.[10:02] The soul miraculously but of its own accord falls into the afterlife. Wait, what? And only now knows its path in the underworld?[13:03] The formative power of the soul is intact after death.[14:57] The afterlife soul is a fabrication of the air.[16:52] Statius gently refines Virgil's unsatisfactory answers to the pilgrim Dante's question.[18:28] The souls in the afterlife can enact their desires, just as they do in the world of the living.[20:51] Statius also gently refines Virgil's discussion of souls in the afterlife in THE AENEID.[24:24] Is this passage about the afterlife of poetry (or art), too?[27:12] Rereading all of Statius's discourse: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 34 - 108.

What happened to the Instant Pot? It's come off its highs and changed dramatically. Its story is not one of overproduction or the whims of popularity. It's a more complicated story that involves investment finance and private equity.Join us, Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of four Instant Pot books, including THE INSTANT POT BIBLE. We want to talk about what happened to this favorite kitchen appliance. Plus, a one-minute cooking tip on vinegar. And our favorites this week: head-on shrimp and pickled plums![01:07] Our one-minute cooking tip: Be forewarned that there's been a big change in distilled white vinegar.[03:02] The rise and fall of the Instant Pot: its start, its wild popularity, and its move into private equity firms with all the do in their vulture capitalism. [27:10] What's making us happy in food this week: head-on shrimp and pickled plums!

Statius goes on to the second part of his discussion of human embryology by following the fetus through its developmental phases until it finally has a brain. At this point, the prime mover knows it's capable of reason and so breathes a new spirit into it . . . to make it capable of self-reflection.This passage is astounding discourse on developmental embryology as understood by medievals via Aristotle but may also be a complex allegory for the creation of poetry.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work our way through the middle bits of Statius's discourse.If you'd like to help support this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a small monthly stipend. You can donate via this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:35] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 52 - 78. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me about this passage, please find the entry for this episode on my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:37] Following the logic of Statius's discourse on embryology.[19:46] Three conclusions about reproduction and human development via Statius (and the poet Dante).[23:15] Embryology as an allegory for the craft of poetry.[25:53] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 52 - 78.

Dante the pilgrim has asked the pressing question of how immaterial souls can take on material attributes like leanness.To answer that, Virgil has offered a couple of unsatisfying answers, then turned the lecture over to the redeemed Statius . . . who begins by discussing human digestion. As understood via Aristotle, Aquinas, and more, food is purified into blood which then coagulates into a fetus.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the opening stanzas of Statius's remarkable and poetic description of human embryology. Dante is nothing if not surprising at every turn.If you'd like to help support this podcast by underwriting its many fees, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:04] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 34 - 51. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:13] Statius begins with two important words that signal the poetics of his lecture: "lume" ("light") at line 36 and "bello" ("beautiful") at line 43.[07:48] Dante the poet cribs his understanding of digestion from several sources and sees digestion itself as the foundation of human reproduction.[16:51] Reproduction begins as the mingling of female blood with purified, male blood.[19:26] It then continues through coagulation and vivification.[22:43] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 34 - 51.

We've learned a lot after writing and publishing after thirty-seven cookbooks. We'd love to share with you those lessons.We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We've actually written forty cookbooks, including two knitting books by Bruce and a memoir by Mark. We've been around the block! We'd love to tell you what we've learned over this long publishing career.We've also got a one-minute cooking tip. And we're really excited about a specific type of melon and Mark's really excited about a specific way to cook goat.If you'd like to get a copy of our latest cookbook, COLD CANNING, please check it out at this link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:[01:22] Our one-minute cooking tip: Store garlic at room temperature[03:27] What have we learned after writing and publishing thirty-seven cookbooks.[23:27] What's making us happy in food this week? Melons and goat!

Our pilgrim, Dante, has asked a very pressing question: How can shades grow thin? How does the immaterial act like the material in the afterlife?Virgil has given the pilgrim the confidence to ask this question. So Virgil takes the first crack at an answer. Problem is, he offers a whole unsatisfying answer and then turns the discussion over to Statius.This passage is a curious introduction to Statius's coming discourse on embryology. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we work through the emotional vibe established before we get to the intellectual and doctrinal answer ahead.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[02:42] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 22 - 33. If you'd like to read along or continue the conversation with me, please find the entry for this episode on my website, markscarbrough.com.[04:19] Curiosities in the medieval Florentine in lines 22 - 27.[06:33] Virgil's two inadequate answers to the pilgrim's question.[13:11] The wound of the intellect and their relation to poetry.[17:35] Statius and the limitations of Virgil.[20:04] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXV, lines 22 - 33.