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MIND READING in DANTE's COMMEDIA a Dissertation MIND READING IN DANTE’S COMMEDIA A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Ashleigh Suzanne Imus February 2010 © 2010 Ashleigh Suzanne Imus MIND READING IN DANTE’S COMMEDIA Ashleigh Suzanne Imus, Ph.D. Cornell University 2010 This dissertation investigates through the lens of epistemology the topos of mind reading, which is frequent in the Commedia when Vergil and other souls perceive Dante pilgrim’s thoughts. Challenging previous scholarship, this study argues for telepathy as a sign of epistemological crisis that historicizes the poem. The crisis emerges through attention to narrative and rhetorical complications in the text and their place in popular and learned narrative and philosophical contexts from antiquity through the Middle Ages. Chapter 1 demonstrates that rather than enact a fantasy of perfect knowledge in heaven, telepathic rhetoric reveals inconsistencies in the mind reading of Vergil and of souls in heaven. These ruptures suggest that we should not wholly accept or reject the ambiguous powers of Vergil or take for granted the telepathy of blessed souls. In this way mind reading emerges as an unstable system of knowing throughout the poem. Remaining chapters contextualize this pattern within relevant histories, emphasizing texts in cultural dialogue. Chapter 2 explores epiphany scenes, showing that telepathy in the Commedia partly inherits the problems of recognizing divine figures in pagan epic and Christian popular narratives. Chapter 3 investigates philosophical and narrative sources of mind reading itself, which reflect deep theoretical and practical contradictions throughout the Middle Ages, ambiguities that inform Dantean telepathy as immanent. Developing these conclusions, chapter 4 situates Dantean mind reading in the Aristotelian- Neoplatonic framework but also in an epistemological debate that was moving beyond this traditional model. The final chapter mobilizes speech-act theory to advance the historical findings of previous chapters. It concludes that the language of mind reading, as utterances bearing the force of action, urgently performs social conventions that bring to light further historical evidence, including the subjectivity implied by Dante’s experience of exile. In powerful new ways the dissertation situates the Commedia in history, which has rarely been done in part due to Dante’s brilliant strategies of narrative and poetic transcendence. By tracing the histories that make Dantean telepathy possible, this study challenges scholarly assumptions by showing how the poem’s language anticipates epistemological concerns that became increasingly urgent throughout the humanist fourteenth century. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Ashleigh Imus was born in 1967 in Glendale, California but was raised in the Midwest and on the east coast. She showed interests in music and books at an early age, playing piano and reading widely. A first-generation college student, she entered New York University in 1987, which proved to be among the most important events of her life. With the help of great teachers and mentors, she learned to cultivate a love of learning, specifically medieval languages and literature. She majored in comparative literature and graduated in 1991 magna cum laude. Upon graduation, she participated in the program Teach for America, teaching elementary school in North Carolina for two years. Subsequently she spent several years continuing her studies independently, reflecting on her education, and teaching English as a second language as well as outdoor education. In 2001 she began graduate school in Cornell’s Medieval Studies Program, where she specialized in medieval and Renaissance Italian literature and classical and medieval Latin literature. In 2005-6 she studied in Florence, Italy, earning a Master’s degree in Italian literature from Middlebury College. In 2007 she was blessed with the birth of her daughter, Lia. She enjoys music, teaching, reading, writing, spending time with her daughter, cooking and eating good food. iii For my mother Harriet Cook iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the Medieval Studies Program for the opportunity to study at Cornell, and I especially thank Dianne Ferriss, whose professional competence and personal warmth truly set the program apart. Both Medieval Studies and the Cornell Graduate School have shown generosity and flexibility throughout my studies, for which I am grateful. The Cornell libraries and librarians are outstanding and make it a privilege and a pleasure to carry out research. I have been fortunate throughout this project to work with the full support of a talented, generous and diverse committee. I am deeply grateful for my committee chair, Marilyn Migiel, who has shown extraordinary generosity and mentoring in ways both personal and professional. Besides teaching me to write sentences that readers might understand and appreciate, she has introduced new and valuable ways of reading, has shown admirable intellectual tolerance, and has modeled perseverance, ethical standards, and kindness in the face of daunting challenges. Bill Kennedy has been an outstanding model of graciousness and brilliance. I thank him for his unflagging support throughout my time at Cornell, his incisive comments on my writing, and for offering excellent professional advice always. I feel especially fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from Danuta Shanzer, whose talents as a teacher and scholar are rare and unforgettable. The seriousness with which she studies and teaches languages and literature is a model for all scholars of the humanities. I deeply appreciate her suggestions, comments, and her uncanny (clairvoyant?) ability to foresee the direction of parts of this project. I thank Pete Wetherbee for his excellent recent scholarship on Dante and for offering different interpretations, thereby helping me to clarify my own. Many years ago Teodolinda Barolini guided me through my first full reading of the Commedia in Italian in a year-long graduate seminar at New York University. Her deep and v infectious love of Dante and her brilliant scholarship have had profound and lasting effects. I am grateful for the support and generosity she has extended over the years. In my first semester of college, Fortune smiled on me when I encountered Nancy Reale, who not only introduced me to Dante and medieval literature but showed genuine kindness and interest in my life and education. She encouraged me to learn Italian and other languages, worked with me on a fellowship to read parts of the Commedia, and advised me throughout my undergraduate years and beyond. She made my college experience transformative and wonderful. Every student deserves to know a teacher and a person as good as she. Likewise, I will forever be indebted to Elin Wilder, without whom I might never have gone to college at all. In my youth she acted as a parent when I needed one, and she remains a friend. I am lucky to have met her 28 years ago and am blessed that she is still part of my life. Last but not least I thank my daughter Lia for her radiant joy and for teaching me the good humility of parenting. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Biographical Sketch iii Dedication iv Acknowledgments v Table of Contents vii Note on Translations viii Introduction Mind Reading in Dante’s Commedia: From Topos to Historicizing Sign 1 Chapter 1 Does Vergil Read the Pilgrim’s Mind? Trouble in the Epistemological Paradise of Dante’s Commedia 30 Chapter 2 When Gods Appear: Pagan and Christian Epiphany as a Context for Mind Reading in the Commedia 64 Chapter 3 Angels and Demons: Philosophical Contexts of Mind Reading in the Commedia 102 Chapter 4 New Epistemology in Dante’s Time: Beyond the Aristotelian-Neoplatonic Model 154 Chapter 5 Mind Reading as Speech Act: Social Context as History in the Commedia 185 Bibliography 244 vii A NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS Throughout the dissertation I quote Latin, Italian, and French texts in the original language and have provided translations in footnotes. In some cases the translations are mine when I have found no other satisfactory translation. In other cases I have used translations of other scholars but have occasionally altered passages that deviate excessively from the original. In these cases italics indicate my alterations. Greek texts are quoted in English translations only, none of which are mine. viii Introduction Mind Reading in Dante’s Commedia: From Topos to Historicizing Sign In visions prior to Dante’s telepathy is rare and unremarkable, a fact that might lead us to presume the visionary tradition’s irrelevance to mind reading in the Commedia. Both Carol Zaleski and Alison Morgan affirm that mind reading occurs in the eighth-century Vision of Drythelm and in the twelfth-century Vision of Gunthelm, while Zaleski also cites the tenth-century Vision of Laisrén.1 Drythelm’s vision contains only one instance, in which the protagonist believes he is in heaven and his anonymous guide corrects his thought with “This is not the kingdom of heaven, as you imagine” (60).2 The Irish Vision of Laisrén also contains one instance where “The man desired to know the difference of the torments. The angel answered at once, in the way that the (guardian) angel has (always) answered thoughts and reflections” (118-19).3 The twelfth-century Vision of Gunthelm contains four examples, all relatively simple corrections by the guide when Gunthelm marvels at the things he sees, and in the final example, when he mistakenly believes he is in hell.4 To this short list I add the tenth-century St. 1 Thus disproving Alison Morgan’s assertion that mind reading “occurs again only in the twelfth- century texts and in the Comedy” (103). 2 According to the translation in Eileen Gardner’s anthology. 3 According to Kuno Meyer’s translation of the Irish. The Vision of St. Paul and Tundale’s Vision also mention guardian angels who provide counsel and present the soul’s deeds to God, which implies mind reading but does not make an explicit connection.
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