Welcome back to The Invisible College, my series of literature courses for paid subscribers. The introduction to and schedule for the 2026 season is here. The 2024 and 2025 archives are here. This free bonus episode, the prologue to a three-part series on the Divine Comedy, is about the life, times, and poetics of Dante. If you enjoy it, please offer a paid subscription to access the rest of the Invisible College archive, including our three future Dante episodes. Please also like, share, comment, and subscribe! The slideshow corresponding to the episode can be downloaded here:

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit grandhotelabyss.substack.com/subscribe