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EXCLUSIVE WEBINAR | “Translator or Traitor? Personal Reflections on Translating Dante’s Vita Nuova“
Presented by Dr. Joe Luzzi
with Additional Commentary by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

The Italians have a saying traduttore, traditore – that is, the “translator” of a book can often be a “traitor” to it if he fails to capture both its letter and its spirit! In this in-person event, Joseph Luzzi, the Asher B. Edelman Professor of Literature at Bard College, will join us to discuss his forthcoming translation of Dante’s Vita Nuova (New Life), which was Dante’s first book and a moving account of his youthful love for his muse, Beatrice, and his discovery of his passion for poetry. Professor Luzzi will share his experiences in trying to remain faithful to Dante’s original language, while at the same time bringing his own personal understanding and interpretation of Dante’s work into this early masterpiece by Italy’s so-called sommo poeta, supreme poet.

The webinar will include a 45-minute lecture followed by 15-minutes of Q&A.

Please note:

• Your participation is confirmed once you have purchased your ticket. You will receive the Zoom link to join the presentation circa 30 minutes before the start time.
• VIDEO RECORDING of the webinar will be available for unlimited streaming at your convenience for 7 days after the event.

Lecturer

Joseph Luzzi (PhD Yale) is Professor of Comparative Literature and Faculty Member in Italian Studies at Bard College and was recently a Wallace Fellow at Harvard’s Villa I Tatti, where he was writing a cultural history of Dante’s Divine Comedy that will appear with Princeton University Press. He is the author of Romantic Europe and the Ghost of Italy (Yale University Press, 2008), which received the MLA’s Scaglione Prize for Italian Studies; A Cinema of Poetry: Aesthetics of the Italian Art Film (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), a finalist for the international prize “The Bridge Book” Award; My Two Italies (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014), a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; and In a Dark Wood: What Dante Taught Me About Grief, Healing, and the Mysteries of Love(HarperCollins, 2015), which has been translated into Italian, German, and Korean.