A 'Whirlwind of Eloquence': Sources for a Moral Reading of Ulysses's 'turbo' (Inf. XXVI, 137). (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gianferrari, Filippo
• Is Part Of: Italian studies. Volume 76:Number 1(2021)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 17
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: Turbo -- Ulysses -- pravum consilium -- tongue -- Aesop -- education; Italian literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Italy -- Intellectual life -- Periodicals; Italy -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 945
• DOI: 10.1080/00751634.2020.1855875
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0075-1634

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The article investigates the significance of the 'turbo' imagery that Dante adds at the end of Ulysses's tale ( Inferno xxvi ) as a possible key to decoding the nature of this character's sin. It argues that, in the style of the ancient fable, Dante devised the end of Ulysses's story in order to make its moral message understandable to a lay, non-academic, readership. To achieve such broad, Gospel-like communication, the poet probably relied on moral interpretations of the turbo imagery that would have been popular in his time. Through an intertextual discussion of several medieval sources available to the poet, the article shows that the turbo would have been a fitting contrapasso for the sin of the evil counsellor, and shows the relevance of this moral category to describe the sin of intellectual curiositas as well.