As we were talking in class, Dante's writing have been read and analyzed for such a long time that it has been influential in multiple concepts and theories. People throughout time have either referenced Dante or used his writings as a model to base their ideas on. References to Dante go from Milton and Chaucer to Marx and Mussolini to further his fascist regime. This is important especially in this day and age where most of us see fascism as an evil political system and might find it hard to believe an association between such a beloved text and a hated system exists.
Karl Marx uses Dante's words from Purgatorio to end his Das Kapital book in which he criticizes the political economy. The preface ends with Dante's words "follow your own road, and let the people talk." This kind of reference is extended as the fascist regime gained power and Mussolini was attempting to give Italy a nationalistic identity, something that Dante was seriously concerned about. As we read in canto 6 of Purgatorio, Dante goes on a rant against Italy and how separated each city had become. Dante hates that Italian cities cannot get along together or stay together as they use to during the Empire. While Sordello and Virgil embrace at the simple mention of their common city, Italians are constantly at each others' throats or blocked off by their walls or moats. Although a lack of a true leader concerns Dante as he blames Italy for having an empty saddle, it is hard to imagine that Dante would have ever thought that Mussolini and a fascist regime would be the appropriate government.
We won't know if fascism was the government that Dante was imagining but that did not stop Mussolini from using Dante's works to further his cause. In an attempt to show everything great about Italy and enhance their reputation abroad, Mussolini even had a building planned to be constructed named the Danteum. It was supposed to be built in Rome which Dante would obviously have approved of since he viewed Rome as the center of the Empire from which a strong government should control and lead the nation. The Danteum would have been quite an amazing structure as it would be built to recreate Dante's journey from the woods, to Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Although it was never built, this structure would have been quite a statement, especially because it was ordered by the fascist government. Dante desired a strong government and his constant speeches about the lack of a strong leader led to the fascist government to use him as a bedrock for this structure that was supposed to symbolize the strong government of the fascist regime.
While the fascist regime used Dante's work as a support for their unification of the state, other people used it to fight against such powerful regimes. Primo Levi, an Italian Jew who spent a year in Auschwitz, wrote a book about his experience called If This Is a Man, and in his book he names one of his chapters Canto of Ulysses. In this chapter he talks about how he struggled to remain a man in Auschwitz and he used Dante as his way or remaining a man. Even though he feared remembering Dante because it would bring back memories of home and life prior to Auschwitz, he realizes that it is a necessary sacrifice. This reminds us of how Ugolino and Francesca both talk about how painful it is to recall their stories because they have to think about the happy things they now miss in their situations. For Primo Levi, remembering Dante is his way to coping with, and survive the fires of the crematorium which he compares to the fires of Hell in Dante's Inferno.
As we see with these example, Dante's writings have so much information, and tackle so much in society, that it is easy to manipulate his writing to fit whatever agenda someone has, whether is be Marx for his book, Mussolini for his government, or Levi for his survival. Dante's Divine Comedy has been and will continue to be used and interpreted however people find the need to accomplish their goals.
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