Purgatorio ed. by Saverio Bellomo and Stefano Carrai (review)

After his edition of Dante's Inferno, published in 2013, we now have Saverio Bellomo's commentary of Purgatorio, the second canticle of Dante Alighieri's Commedia. The notable scholar sadly passed away in 2018, leaving an almost complete commentary, which his friend and distinguished Italianist Stefano Carrai brought to a conclusion, addressing the remaining canti xxix, xxxii, and xxxiii, supplying an introduction, and revising the entire commentary. In this work, Carrai was able to turn for expert assistance to Leonardo Bellomo, Luca Lombardo (who edited the final indices), and Cristiano Lorenzi.

In his preface to the previous volume of commentary for the Inferno, Bellomo declared two main purposes for his work: to address a specific audience and to say something new in the face of a poem that boasts an illustrious tradition of more than a hundred commentaries. Bellomo's declared audience consists of readers who wish to reread the Commedia and who have some literary knowledge, without however an expert's knowledge of Dante. In addition to this specific yet broad target, Bellomo and Carrai's commentary offers a new point of reference for Dante scholars and, at the same time, a suitable guide for university students. This double task of saying something new and of addressing non-specialized readers is the greatest challenge of any Dante commentary. But the Purgatorio commentary manages to achieve it by virtue of a calibrated balance of content, as well as of structural and stylistic choices. Bellomo himself recognized its originality more in the form of its exposition than in its contents, in a critical language that fosters new perspectives on Dante's poem. This commentary constitutes a new model that has already inspired commentators of other authors: while avoiding rhetorical heaviness and repetition, it remains rigorous and original, turning to an elegant but clear style.

The edited text upon which Bellomo turns his critical attention is the national edition formulated by Giorgio Petrocchi over fifty years ago (La "Commedia" secondo l'antica vulgata, 1966–1967). Some variants preferred by more recent scholarly editors such as Antonio Lanza, Federico Sanguineti, and Giorgio Inglese, are discussed in the commentary, but the Bellomo–Carrai commentaries do not intend to provide a new critical edition. In fact, Bellomo notes in his preface that he refuses to introduce some variants within the text, as other commentators do, choosing instead to discuss them in the notes because he believes that these editorial choices, especially for a text with such a complex textual tradition, should only be included in a comprehensive editorial program.

Carrai's introduction to Purgatorio is divided into six sections that focus on different aspects of the canticle: 1) meaning and structure of Purgatory; 2) travel: body, time, and hope; 3) the Orphic model and Beatrice; 4) liturgy and prophecy; 5) art; and 6) poetry. Carrai's introduction is both concise, examining almost all the fundamental elements necessary to reread the second realm of Dante's afterlife, and pointed, offering interesting specific angles for interpretation. For example, Carrai's own work on the presence of the myth of Orpheus in Dante's works enriches the focus on the importance of this model behind Dante's ascent up the mountain to Beatrice and to salvation. Like Ulysses, Orpheus is an anti-model assumed by Dante, the Christianized Orpheus. For each topic, a useful selection of critical references is discussed.

Bellomo's selection of critical materials from the vast bibliography on Dante gives the volume a utility for readers who wish to pursue further interpretative leads. All such useful sources are listed after the introduction to each canticle.

The commentary has a tripartite structure. Each canto is preceded by a brief summary to indicate the canto's setting, main themes, and characters. A second introductory section presents the main characters in greater detail, providing their biographical details, describing their vices and afterlife conditions, and offering historical context. The footnotes, which constitute the traditional line-by-line commentary, are...