ABSTRACT

Moments of visual fixation appear throughout the Commedia. Reconstructing their connotations in relation to contemporary discourses on sight, this article argues that, as well as a literary trope, Dante’s depictions of fixing the gaze function as a metaliterary device, an invitation to the reader’s critical eye that, when interrupted, draws attention to the multiple cultures of gazing circulating at the time – from erotic obsession to contemplative ecstasy via visionary philosophical and theological inquiry. The roots of the trope are traced in Dante’s rime and analysed in key episodes of the Commedia, including the dream of the Siren (Purgatorio xix), Dante’s ‘too fixed’ gaze (Purgatorio xxiii), and the climatic gazes pilgrim and guide turn to God in Paradiso. By encouraging the reader to fulfil the poet’s vision in her imagination, the fixed gaze, and its frequent interruption, emerges as a uniquely suitable trope for negotiating the representational challenges of transcendental topics.

摘要

视觉固定的时刻出现在整个Commedia中。重构它们与当代视觉话语相关的内涵，本文认为，除了文学比喻之外，但丁对固定凝视的描述作为一种元文学手段发挥作用，邀请读者批判性的眼睛，当被打断时，它会引起人们的注意当时流传着多种凝视文化——从情欲的痴迷到通过富有远见的哲学和神学探究的沉思狂喜。这个比喻的根源可追溯至但丁的韵脚，并在即兴曲的关键情节中进行了分析，包括海妖之梦（炼狱 xix）、但丁“过于固定”的凝视（炼狱 xxiii）), 气候凝视着朝圣者和向导在天堂转向上帝。通过鼓励读者在她的想象中实现诗人的愿景，固定的凝视和它的频繁中断，作为一个独特的比喻出现，用于谈判先验主题的再现挑战。