French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Benucci, Poetics of Light in Dante's Inferno and Purgatorio
Medieval and Renaissance Studies
Bibliographic reference: ALESSANDRO BENUCCI, Poétique de la lumière dans l'Enfer et le Purgatoire de Dante, Lambert-Lucas, collection "Domaines étrangers et Langues de France", 2017. EAN13: 9782359352054.
The first two parts of the Divine Comedy are examined and interpreted here through the lens of the values Dante assigns to light, as well as the alterations it undergoes in the abyss of Hell and on the mountain of Purgatory. Salvation does not require the reader to ascend with the author all the way to Paradise, but rather to flee corruption (darkness) through an earthly conversion of the spirit that brings one, step by step, closer to the practice of virtue (light).
Why does Dante anchor these two realms of the afterlife to the mortal world, repeatedly emphasizing throughout the poem the tangible signs of their connection to the earth? To answer this compelling question, Alessandro Benucci links the writing of the Divine Comedy to the biographical trials of its author: his meeting with Beatrice, his banishment from Florence, and his exile across a war-torn Italy that laid bare a humanity adrift. Dante journeys through Hell and Purgatory, which function as allegories of the earthly sphere, to escape the dark wood and reach the sunlit heights.
These variations in light establish a model for moral conduct. As a viator in the world of the dead, the reader encounters in Hell faint glimmers, incandescent miasmas, and tongues of flame—emblems of a misused intellect. In Purgatory, dawns, dusks, and moonlight symbolize the gradual liberation of a spirit promised imminent redemption.
An agrégé in Italian with a PhD in medieval literature, Alessandro Benucci is a Senior Lecturer (Maître de Conférences) in Italian language and culture at Paris Nanterre University. His research focuses on the resurgence of Christian imagery and ancient and medieval mythologies in Dante's work. He is also interested in medieval linguistics and its place in theoretical writings in Latin (De vulgari eloquentia, Eclogae).
This study situates Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy within the rich intellectual tradition of medieval Christian symbolism, where light serves as a direct manifestation of divine grace, intellect, and moral truth. By focusing on the first two canticles, Inferno and Purgatorio, Alessandro Benucci highlights how the transition from the absolute darkness of the abyss to the shifting dawns of the purgatorial mountain mirrors the soul's moral purification. The work connects Dante's poetic choices to medieval theology and spiritual allegories, offering a fresh reading of a canonical text.
By examining how Dante anchors the afterlife to the trials of his own exile and his love for Beatrice, this book helps readers understand the deeply human and political dimensions of the poem. Scholars and students of medieval literature, Italian studies, and religious iconography will find this volume particularly valuable. Benucci’s analysis clarifies how the faint glimmers of Hell and the changing skies of Purgatory function as a guide for human conduct, making it an essential resource for anyone seeking to decode the complex allegorical landscape of Dante's journey.