Deviant Physics in Mythological Spaces and Other Important Points in Canto IV of Dante's Purgatorio .
This paper concerns the fourth chapter, or canto, of the second book in the Divina Commedia of Dante, the Purgatorio. It concerns the ascent of the main characters to the realm of the indolent, where reside the repentant souls of those who were too lazy to convert before their last days. God is making them wait before they are admitted to paradise, just like they made him wait for their conversion. The paper concerns the way in which Dante uses abnormal physical laws to make the mythological space of the Commedia just weird enough to be believed. Current findings in the anthropology of religion are cited to support the need for odd, un-earthly aspects of supernatural systems like those involved in the afterlife. 12 pgs. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
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