Matters of holiness: semiotic perspectives on Dante

editors Magdalena Maria Kubas and Francesco Galofaro.

deadline: 30 September 2021

In 2021, the 700th anniversary of Dante's death is celebrated in Italy and around the world. This issue of Ocula pays homage to the Poet by renovating the rich tradition of semiotic studies devoted to his work and stimulating new reflections and directions of research. Indeed, the focus of this issue is the theme of holiness in Dante and its contemporary reception.
We intend to promote and continue the dialogue between semiotics and literary and historical studies, following the example of the works by Maria Corti, Cesare Segre and D’Arco Silvio Avalle, which remain milestones in terms of the transdisciplinary approach and methodological cross-fertilization. We also recall the fundamental works by Umberto Eco on Abulafia which opened a perspective on the themes related to Jewish mysticism in Dante's work (Debenedetti Stow).
Holiness represents an important part in the universe of the Comedy: not only do the saints populate Paradise, but we find a large number of miracles, hagiographies and self-hagiographies, references to intercession, and prayers also in Inferno and Purgatorio.

Here the research topics we propose:
- symbols of holiness, especially in Paradise;
- the biography of the saint as a model for different forms of life (Fontanille);
- representations of holiness (e.g. Benedictine, Franciscan, Dominican);
- the language and rhetoric of holiness;
- the importance of the Comedy in defining the Christian image of holiness;
- the Comedy in the magisterium of the contemporary Church (for example the recent Apostolic Letter Candor Lucis Aeternae by Pope Francis);

The idea for this issue of Ocula was born within the ERC project NeMoSanctI (New Models of Sanctity in Italy (1960s-2000s) - A Semiotic Analysis of Norms, Causes of Saints, Hagiography, and Narratives. University of Turin - principal investigator Prof. Jenny Ponzo.

General Informations:
The acceptance of the articles and their publication is subject to double blind peer review. The Authors can find all the editing and format rules at the page ''Come si collabora” – “How to contribute to Ocula”, on the home page. Please read it carefully and follow the recommendations. There are no official limits of length to the articles, yet we recommend 40.000 characters as a reasonable maximum measure (including spaces, notes and references). Files format accepted are .doc, docx, .odt. The articles may include any kind of images. Images (photographs, graphs, tables) must be included in the main text file and submitted each as a separate file, in .jpg, .png, .tif, .eps, .psd formats. The Authors must send their contribution in two versions: one in anonymous form, to be sent to the reviewers, and the other containing name, position, email, website, biographic notes. Each version must be a separate file. In the anonymous file, in any reference to the Author’s publications the name must be cancelled and replaced by ''Author” and the titles by ''Title of the publication''. The date must be visible. Please, add an abstract of the paper.


Deadlines
Abstracts Proposal: 30/09/2021
Submission of the essays: 31/12/2021
Notification of acceptance, rejection or revision request: 31/03/2021
Scheduled Publication: 30/07/2022


Accepted languages
Italian, English, French


Abstracts and articles must be sent to:
Magdalena Maria Kubas: magdalenamaria.kubas(;-)unito.it
Francesco Galofaro: francesco.galofaro(;-)unito.it


Riferimenti/references
Avalle D’Arco, S. 1975. Modelli semiologici nella «Commedia» di Dante, Bompiani.
Bachtin, L. M. 1970. Dante e la società italiana del 300, De Donato.
Bethea, D. 2006. “Dante, Florenskii, Lotman: journeying then and now through medieval Space,” in: Schonle, A. (ed.), Lotman and cultural studies, University of Winsconsin Press.
Corti, M. 1981. Dante a un nuovo crocevia, Le Lettere.
- 1981. “La teoria del segno nei logici modisti e in Dante,” in: Per una storia della semiotica: teorie e metodi, Ruta A. M., Lendinara P. (eds.), STASS.
Debenedetti Stow, S. 2009. “Tra Mondo fisico e mondo metafisico: semiotica del testo tra Rashi e Dante,” in: Dante: Rivista Internazionale Di Studi Su Dante Alighieri 6 (2009).
- 2004, Dante e la mistica ebraica, Giuntina.
De Benedictis, R. 2012. Wordly Wise: The Semiotics of Discourse in Dante's Commedia, Peter Lang.
Eco, U. 2017. “Dante tra modisti e cabalisti,” in: Dall’albero al labirinto, La nave di Teseo.
- 1993. La ricerca della lingua perfetta nella cultura europea, Laterza.
Florenskij, P. 2008. “Gli immaginari in geometria,” in: Il simbolo e la forma, Valentini N., Gorelov A. (eds.), Boringhieri.
Fontanille, J. 2015. Formes de vie, PUL.
Lotman, J. M. 1980. “Il viaggio di Ulisse nella Divina Commedia di Dante,” in: Testo e contesto, Laterza.
Palma di Cesnola, M. 1995. Semiotica dantesca. Profetismo e diacronia, Longo.
Pozzato, M. P. (ed.) 1989. L’idea deforme. Interpretazioni esoteriche di Dante, Bompiani.
Segre, C. 1990. “Il viaggio allegorico-didattico: un mondo-modello,” in: Fuori del mondo: i modelli nella follia e nelle immagini dell’aldilà, Einaudi.
Raffa, G. P. (ed.) 2000. Dante’s Bones: How a Poet Invented Italy, Harvard.
Raffi, A. 2004. La gloria del volgare: ontologia e semiotica in Dante dal Convivio al De vulgari eloquentia, Rubbettino.