The Fruitful Aporias of "Purgatorio" XXVII. Dante in the Twentieth Century

The essay examines a few segments of Purgatorio XXVII: the passage through the wall of fire, Dante's third and last dream in which Lia and Rachel appear, and Virgil's final words to Dante. By analysing the twentieth-century critical literature on this canto, the author highlights the interpretative aporias that have been pointed out in various studies and arrives at the conclusion that aporia is precisely the characteristic feature of Dante's reception in the twentieth century. An aporia holds together transcendence and immanence, the spiritual journey and the earthly element, the soul and earthly dimension. This specific form of reception is also verified in a few modern poets, such as Giovanni Pascoli, Vittorio Sereni and Silvio Ramat.