Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
“In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild , and rough, and stubborn wood this was, which in my thought renews the fear!” –David Guterson, Epigraph to Snow Falling on Cedars, September 1994
Check out Snow Falling on Cedars on Amazon here.
Contributed by Daniel Christian.
Kefka, entrapped in ice at the waist, is the final boss in Square’s 1994 video game Final Fantasy VI.
Learn more about Final Fantasy VI here.
On the July 24, 2020, episode of the New York Times podcast The Daily, host Michael Barbaro chats with reporter Mike Schimdt about the 2020 baseball season, which had difficulty getting off the ground due to disputes between owners and players on how to safely and successfully play ball amid the 2020 outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The episode compared the troubled negotiations of the 2020 season with that of 1994, which was halted following a contractual dispute between players and owners that resulted in a players’ strike. In archived audio recordings in the episode, fans respond to the canceled 1994 season. To the question, “So what are you going to do [now that the season has been suspended],” one fan replied:
“I already know what I’m going to start doing. I’m going to start rereading Dante’s Inferno, because that’s where I think they should send the whole lot of them.”
You can listen to the episode here or read the transcript here.
“Dante Shinkyoku is a manga adaptation of Dante’s Inferno by Go Nagai. Nagai is faithful to the text, as he includes snippets of the original poem (in the vernacular). Though he chooses not to include the entire poem word for word, he shortens main ideas for the sake of comic style dialogue and transitions. He also includes an intro introducing the Guelphs and their struggle.” –Contributor Savannah Mikus
The full Dante Shinkyoku series (originally released in 1994-1995) is available to read online here (last accessed July 27, 2021). [Please note: the url for accessing the full version of Dante Shinkyoku (through sites like mangaowl.net and mangadex.org) changes frequently, occasionally bringing up content that could be unsuitable for young viewers. Please click with caution.]
Click here for a discussion of Go Nagai’s work in relation to three other Dante-inspired graphic novelists (article in Italian).
Contributed by Savannah Mikus (Florida State University BA ’20, MA ’22)
Italian singer-songwriter Lorenzo “Jovanotti” Cherubini‘s 1994 song “Serenata Rap” contains a famous line from Inferno V: “Amor ch’a nullo amato amar perdona”.
To watch the music video, click here.
To view the song’s lyrics, click here.
