“I read a great new book called Life of Pi by Yann Martel that draws from the Commedia. It deals with religion and a pilgrimage of sorts. Also, the narrator/author specifically states a desire to tell his story in exactly 100 chapters (which he does). Are there parallels between Virgil and Pi’s tiger? It’s tough to say-I guess you could find some loose similarities between the two figures. The tiger acts as a guide for Pi in the realm of animal survival, helping him to overcome his civilized taboos and do whatever it takes to live. Also, training the tiger and getting enough food to keep it healthy gives Pi a purpose, and keeps him from being overcome by the immensity of his predicament. Pi professes love and admiration for the tiger on many occasions. The book is a really clever religious allegory, and it challenges you to read it on all four levels of interpretation Dante discusses in his letter to Can Grande. It’s a Commedia for the disillusioned 21st century cynic.” –Chris Moxhay
Matthew Pearl, “The Dante Club” (2003)
“1865 Boston, a small group of literary geniuses puts the finishing touches on America’s first translation of The Divine Comedy and prepares to unveil the remarkable visions of Dante to the New World. The powerful old guard of Harvard College wants to keep Dante out–believing that the infiltration of such foreign superstitions onto our bookshelves would prove as corrupting as the foreign immigrants invading Boston harbor. The members of the Dante Club–poets and Harvard professors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell and publisher J. T. Fields –endure the intimidation of their fellow Boston Brahmins for a sacred literary cause, an endeavor that has sustained Longfellow in the hellish aftermath of his wife’s tragic death by fire.” —Matthew Pearl
Janet Van Fleet, Sculptures for “A Guided Tour of Dante’s Inferno”
“The Inferno of Dante Alighieri,” a rhymed translation by Seth Zimmerman with illustrations by Janet Van Fleet
Learn more at Inferno Dante and see the book on Amazon.
“A 21st-Century Man: Why is Dante Hot All of a Sudden?”
“. . . What the poets find, in other words, is a postmodern Dante, a text that each reader collaborates in writing. This Dante has power but not authority; he is a great artist but not a commanding model, and certainly not a compelling religious example. This fits perfectly with the eclectic spirit of contemporary poetry, in which no one style is dominant and each poet must invent his own language and idiom.
Dante’s appeal to ordinary readers seems more mysterious. After all, TheDivine Comedy is suffused with Aristotelian philosophy, medieval astronomy, and the petty political rivalries of 13th-century Italy—not exactly best-seller material. What is it about this difficult masterpiece that would make today’s readers want five different Infernos and three Purgatorios?” [. . .] –Adam Hirsch, Slate, March 26, 2003
“Dante’s Inferno” Board Game (2003)
“Dante’s Inferno is a new boardgame from Twilight Creations. The object of the game is to rescue enough sinners (resources) to gain entry to the 9th Circle of Hell and defeat Lucifer while preventing the other players from doing so first.” —Twilight Creations, Inc.
