Dante’s Purgatorio: The Common Journey

A course with Dr. Larry Allums
Four Mondays, January 12, 19, 26, and February 2, 2026

6:00 PM–8:00 PM
Reception at 5:30 PM

Educator Members: Free
Non-Educator Members: $64
Non-members: $80
Location: The MacMillan Institute | 518 East Wheatland Road | Duncanville, Texas 75116

Syllabus 

January 12                 Introduction: recapitulation of the Inferno. The idea and tradition of Purgatory in Western culture.           Cantos 1-3 of the Purgatorio. 

January 19                Purgatorio 4-13 

January 26                 Purgatorio 14-23 

February 2                 Purgatorio 24-33 

In the three parts of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Purgatorio is unique in being “betwixt and between”: unlike Inferno and Paradiso, where there is motion but no movement, in Purgatorio there are both, as Dante the Pilgrim climbs the sacred mountain. Its truths are meant for us the living in our drama of the flesh: Inferno is the realm to be avoided; Paradise the realm to be achieved. Purgatory is the realm in which we learn how to do both. 

Text: Any translation of the Purgatorio will do. I will be using Allen Mandelbaum’s translation in the Bantam Classics Series, ISBN 978-0-553-21344-7.