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We've come out of the invective against Italian strife and returned to the plot of COMEDY--and Dante the poet clearly wants to return Virgil to the center of the narrative's stage.

But can he? How is Virgil's position negotiated and renegotiated as the damned Virgil walks on into the redeemed landscape.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I explore our return to storytelling in a passage in which Dante the pilgrim seems to fall through the cracks of Dante the poet's larger strategies.

Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:51] My English translation of this passage: PURGATORIO, Canto VII, lines 1 - 15. You can find it on my website, markscarbrough.com.

[03:24] The emotional space that opens PURGATORIO, Canto VII, and may re-establish Virgil's position in COMEDY.

[09:04] Virgil names himself for the first time in COMEDY and offers a rationale (maybe!) for his damnation. But isn't Cato always in the offing?

[15:59] Sordello suddenly becomes uncertain (no longer a crouching lion?) in the face of the great poet.

[18:27] The redeemed Sordello abases himself in front of the damned Virgil.