Dante’s Work : “Offensive & Discriminatory”
The Guardian reports: ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here: Dante’s medieval classic the “Divine Comedy” has been condemned as racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic by a group calling for it to be removed from classrooms. The epic poem, written in the 14th century, is split into three parts, tracing the poet’s journey through “Inferno,” “Purgatorio” and “Paradiso.” It is seen as one of the cornerstones of world literature. But the Italian human rights organisation Gherush92, which advises UN bodies on human rights issues, wants it to be removed from school curriculums, or at least used with more caution, because it is “offensive and discriminatory” and young people lack the “filters” to understand it in context.’ Is there a masterpiece that will be safe from these people?
