"Se la memoria mia in ciò non erra". Notes on the Role of Orality and Memory in Dante's Comedy

Looking at the remarkable unity and macrotextual solidity of Dante’s Comedy, it’s easy to forget that Dante’s Comedy was initially conceived as a “trilogy” of cantiche, and was never published in its entirety by its author. Delving into the problem of the Comedy’s early circulation, as suggested by extant documentation, and related chronological issues, this essay attempts to sum up recent acquisitions on such matter, paying due attention to the influence of orality and memory. Although often difficult to assess, the latter is a paramount factor in the Poem’s itinerary of knowledge; moreover, the possible impact of orality and memory in both the Comedy’s composition and publication must be taken into account, in the light of what presumably was Medieval practice in southern Europe.