Conference Report – Dante Futures: New Voices in the UK and Ireland
University of Cambridge, King’s College, 15-16 November 2024
Organised by Italian Section (MMLL) University of Cambridge and the Centre for Dante Studies in Ireland (UCC)
The two-day doctoral and postdoctoral conference ‘Dante Futures 2024: New Voices in the UK and Ireland’, hosted by King’s College, University of Cambridge, on 15-16 November, was the third annual gathering of emerging researchers in the field of Dante Studies in Ireland and the UK, previously held at University College Cork (2022) and the University of Leeds (2023). This year’s edition saw the participation of numerous doctoral scholars from nine universities specialising in Dante Studies who had the possibility to present their latest research, engage in meaningful discussions with peers, and receive valuable feedback from experienced researchers and postdoctoral fellows.
The conference included seven panels comprising a wide variety of topics related to Dante Studies (e.g., theology, philology, new theoretical approaches, reception) for a total of 15 papers delivered by PhD and postdoctoral scholars. The event saw the participation of 13 Early Career Researchers acting as discussants, and several other senior scholars and academics. The event also included a keynote lecture delivered by Prof Catherine Keen (UCL), a special issue launch, and two performance events.
The conference was co-organised by the Italian Section (MMLL) at the University of Cambridge (Dr Giulia Boitani, Dr Nicolò Crisafi, Frey Kalus, and Becky Reilly) and the Centre for Dante Studies in Ireland (Elsina Caponetti, Dr Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė, and Chiara Valcelli). It was sponsored by King’s College (University of Cambridge), the Society for Italian Studies, and the Italian Cultural Institute of London.
The event began on Friday 15 November with a guided tour of the library holdings related to Dante at King’s College. The first panel of the afternoon, chaired by Dr Katherine Travers (Oxford) and Dr George Rayson (UCC), featured papers by Becky Reilly (Cambridge) and Ruoci Song (Cambridge). This was followed by the keynote lecture delivered by Prof Catherine Keen (UCL), titled Banished Voice: Positioning Dante’s Exile from Florence in Lyric Verse. The second panel, chaired by Dr Giulia Boitani (Cambridge) and Dr Ryan Pepin (York), included papers by Bruna Lorenzin (Torino/visiting UCC) and Dr Gianluca Caccialupi (Tours). The final panel of the day, chaired by Frey Kalus (Cambridge/FU Berlin) and Dr Valentina Mele (Leeds), featured papers by Chiara Valcelli (UCC) and Katherine McKee (Oxford).
The day concluded with an original artistic performance Dante Dreaming, including readings from Dante’s work by Lorenzo Bastida, and music for violin arranged and played by Stephane Crayton and Rachel Hodgson. This was followed by a reading of the canzone “Donna pietosa e di novella etate” newly translated and performed by Professor Patrick Boyde.
The second day consisted of four panels. The first panel, chaired by Dr Alessia Carrai (Padova) and Dr Lorenzo Dell’Oso (Durham), included papers by Elisa Rosati (UCC) and Elsina Caponetti (UCC). The fifth panel, chaired by Dr Helena Phillips-Robins (Cambridge) and Dr Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė (CDSI), featured papers by Enrica Leydi (Warwick), Gennaro Ambrosino (Warwick), and Dr Frey Kalus (Cambridge/FU Berlin). The sixth panel, chaired by Dr Rebecca Bowen (Oxford) and Dr Serena Vandi (TCD), included papers by Francesca Sartori (Bristol) and Clara Santarelli (Genova). The seventh and final panel, chaired by Dr Serena Vandi (TCD) and Dr Lachlan Hughes (Cambridge), featured papers by Jonny Wiles (Cambridge) and Sean Wyer (Oxford).
The panels were followed by the launch of the special issue ‘Cavalcanti dopo Cavalcanti: The Reception of Guido Cavalcanti in Italy’ (Italianistica 2024/2, ed. Valentina Mele), presented by Dr Kiltinavičiūtė, Prof Keen, Dr Mele, and Dr Daragh O’Connell (UCC). The conference concluded with a Dante-themed poetry reading which saw the participation of Jonny Wiles, Frey Kalus, Thomas Graff, Elsina Caponetti, Bruna Lorenzin, Elisa Rosati, Giulia Boitani, and Professor Robin Kirkpatrick.
‘Dante Futures 2024’ successfully reached its purpose of shedding light on doctoral and postdoctoral research in the Anglophone context, showing its potential contributions to existing scholarship, and fostering dialogue between institutions and scholars currently engaged in Dante Studies at PhD and postdoctoral level in Ireland and the UK.