Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
In Episode 6 of Season 3 of the HBO television series Succession, Kendall Roy describes the planned theme of his upcoming 40th birthday: “ End Times: Weimar meets Carthage meets Dante meets AI and antibiotic-resistant superbugs.”
Succession has been featured multiple times on our website: see another reference from Season 1 here and a promotional poster citing here.
“The Three Palaces Festival, taking place between November 8 and 12, is online for a second time because coronavirus restrictions remain in place,” says artistic director Michelle Castelletti, a singer, composer and conductor known for her interdisciplinary approach to the arts.
Speaking about the theme of this year’s festival, Castelletti highlights that 2021 is the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, and the 450th anniversary of Caravaggio’s birth.
Both have ties to Malta, with Caravaggio’s painting the Beheading of St John the Baptist commissioned for the Co-Cathedral of St John while Dante mentioned Malta in La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy).
“Although it’s true that we aren’t certain he meant this island rather than a place in Italy,” she continues. “We were keen to celebrate both these artistic geniuses.” –Esther Lafferty, Times of Malta, November 7, 2021
“Purgatorio è i nostri segreti e i nostri desideri.
È un sacco da box che oscilla sopra le nostre teste. Le sue oscillazioni ci sfiorano e ci accarezzano. Ci cullano e ci sbattono. Non sono oscillazioni regolari, né continue. Sono scosse come quelle della corrente alternata. Il pendolo ci ricorda che la nostra parabola non è infinita. Ogni attimo il tempo di oscillazione diventa sempre più breve fino alla stasi. Alla pace.
Purgatorio non mette in scena Dante ma ne sposa l’epica. Ci ricorda l’unicità di ogni vita e la sua grandezza. Di ogni vita che abita il palco mostra l’essenza per godere della sua necessaria irripetibilità.” –Babilonia Teatri
This theatrical piece will be discussed by scholar Sara Fontana in her contribution to the forthcoming volume Dante Alive.
“Three long-term convicts turned actors who appeared in the Taviani brothers’ prison-set Caesar Must Die Shakespearian film drama are to get out of jail for three hours to recite Dante’s Inferno at a Rome university symposium Thursday marking the 700th anniversary of the Supreme Poet’s death.
“Filippo, Giovanni and Francesco, serving lengthy terms for criminal association in the mafia wing of Rebibbia Prison, will be special guests at the event organized by the pontifical Dante commission.
“The three men said they hoped the three hours would be long enough for them to ‘see the stars again’ like Dante does when he emerges from the pit of Hell.” –ANSA, November 23, 2021
Loudwire’s Katy Irizary explains that the “cover-art alone… is very Dante-esque.” A dragon, which Irizary claims “could be a representation of the centaur Cacus who has a fire breathing dragon in Canto 25.”
Lionheart describes meeting Ulysses in Hell with the lyrics ““Drown Ulysses / Drown here in the silence / Cause down to Hades I’ve gone / But I cannot get out.”
Read the full Loudwire article here.
