Verso Thule. La Divina Commedia dalla Svezia all'Islanda

The reception of Dante Alighieri’s works, in particular his Commedia, is a late phenomenon in Northern European countries (in this regard, Scandinavia makes no exception in the broader European context). Dante has been studied (and admired) since the Romantic period, with an initial relevant influence of German intellectuals and writers on the Scandinavian milieu, while the first complete translations of the Commedia were published in the 1850s and 1860s (in Sweden and Denmark), followed by the next contributions no sooner than in the early 20th century. Dante interested Nordic artists due to his established role in the Western literary canon, but the reasons of admiration were multifaceted and even contradictory: from his realism to his imaginative power, from his polemical spirit to his moral values, including his theological stances. This paper focuses on the case of Sweden, with references to other Scandinavian countries, while this panorama of “Dante-worship” is integrated by considerations on the quality of Swedish translations of the Commedia; furthermore, several issues which may have favoured or hindered the reading of Dante’s works in the Northern context are highlighted.