Paradiso 28.
See Kateřina Machytková’s website for her illustrations of the Commedia.
posted on April 29, 2019 by
Kateřina Machytková, paintings (2016)
posted on April 2, 2019 by
The 9 Circles of Nursing School Hell
“Nursing school can be.. well, hell. Senior year is particularly horrific. From applying for jobs, to completing your last clinicals, to finals week, to scheduling NCLEX prep, applying for your ATT, creating your resume and cover letters, preparing for interviews, scheduling and preparing for the NCLEX, sitting for boards, and actually graduating.. it can be it’s own special form of hell. Nine circles to be exact.
“You ever read Dante’s Inferno in high school? . . . well, here is our version of Dante’s Inferno . . . nursing school style.” [. . .] –Kati Kleber, NRSNG, 2016.
Read Kleber’s list of nursing school hell here on NRSNG.
posted on March 30, 2019 by
The Geological Features That Inspired Hell In Dante’s Divine Comedy
“For a long time, the inner earth was a mysterious place – supposedly the reign of demons, home to ancient gods (like Pluto) and place of eternal damnation. Italian poet Dante Alighieri imagined an especially elaborate version of Hell in his Divine Comedy. He included in his description the nine circles of Hell, with Lucifer residing in the lowest, real landscapes and geological features. According to author Marco Romano, in the description of Dante’s Inferno we find earthquakes, rivers, mountains, landslides, a desert of scorching sand and even some types of rocks (like the famous marble of Carrara).
“Dante imagined Hell like an inverted cone, with its circles gradually becoming smaller nearer to Earth’s core. Each circle was dedicated to a sin and the sin’s related punishment. This image is based on calculations of Greek philosophers, like Eratosthenes of Cyrene or Claudius Ptolemy, who argued that Earth is a sphere. Hell, as part of earth, would have to be cone-shaped. Dante even gives an exact value of Earth’s radius of 3,250 miles (it’s actually 3,959 miles).” — David Bressan, Forbes, July 16, 2016
Read the full article here.
posted on February 25, 2019 by
The Introvert’s Nine Circles of Hell
“Ever wondered what hell would be like for introverts? I think it would be something like this… Abandon all hope, ye introverts who enter here…” — Michelle Connolly, Louder Minds, March 21, 2016
Find out all the circles of hell for introverts here.
posted on February 1, 2019 by
Ty Owens, “The 9 Circles of Modern Hell”
“In the story Inferno from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, there were nine circles of Hell – nine phases of Hell that Dante must pass through, each worse than the last. In the modern day, most people are not as afraid of ‘sinning’ as people were back in the day of Dante. This world has a great mix of faiths and degrees of lacking one. So, ‘sinning’ in the old way of describing actions isn’t really as relevant anymore. Therefore, I believe a renaming of the Nine Rings of Hell is in order so that people of the modern day can get more of a grasp on the terror that Dante was trying to get across with Inferno.
[. . .]
“3. Too Many Stops in Your Music
Whether it be those few minutes where every radio station is on commercial or where the data is too slow to stream music, there are times when the music just isn’t playing. This is justifiably maddening because the only real reason this should happen is that ‘American Pie’ by Don McLean just came true and the music died. This circle of Hell is populated by radios that play only one line of a random song for every 24 hours of commercials or speakers that only play stints of skipping music between days of watching the ‘Loading’ or ‘Buffering’ icons pin.” — Ty Owens, “The 9 Circles of Modern Hell,” The Odyssey Online (July 18, 2016)
Contributed by Jessica Brewer (University of Kansas, 2019)
posted on January 29, 2019 by
“The Circles of American Financial Hell”
“As people move up the income ladder, they escape material shortages and consume more. They have ‘things’—goods, houses, and, most importantly, education—to show for their higher earnings, but they do not have healthy finances. Having those ‘things’ is of course an improvement over not having them, but only for the very, very rich (or the very, very unusual) is there any real escape from the pressure-cooker of American household finances.” — Rebecca J. Rosen, “The Circles of American Financial Hell,” The Atlantic (May 5, 2016)
posted on January 9, 2019 by
The Tenth Circle: Istanbul Traffic
On this list put together by Canim Istanbul, the author, a local of the city, gives prospective tourists five tips for a good time while in Istanbul. The first tip?
“1. Avoid the Tenth Circle of Hell, AKA Istanbul’s infamous traffic.
“The city’s traffic is a tempestuous creature that flares whenever and wherever it pleases, blocking streets and bridges for hours and hours on end. There are horror stories of people driving for four hours when they could have reached their destination in 30 minutes. Locals will advise you to avoid taxis, buses, or cars whenever possible and make use of the lovely modes of speedy transportation like the ferry, Metrobus, and the metro.” [. . .] —Canim Istanbul, June 5, 2016.
Check out the rest of Canim’s list here for four other handy tips about travelling in Istanbul.
posted on November 28, 2018 by
When Seagulls Cry (2007)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni is a Japanese visual novel developed by 07th Expansion. The title translates to When Seagulls Cry in English. The series was released in Japan from 2007-2011, and globally through 2016-2017.
“The story focuses on a group of eighteen people on a secluded island for a period of two days, and the mysterious murders that befall them. Readers are challenged to discern whether the murders were committed by a human or of some other supernatural source, as well as the method and motive behind them.” [. . .] —Umineko When They Cry, Wikipedia, 2018.
Fans of the series have pointed out several references to Dante’s work in the series, such as these found by readers on MyAnimeList:
“I’ve started reading Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy few days ago and I found several analogies with Umineko.
- “Names:
Beatrice – name of deceased Dante’s love, his guide through Heaven
Virgil – name of Dante’s guide through Hell and Purgatorio - “Structure of Mt. Purgatorio is of the form 2+7+1=9+1=10, with one of the ten regions different in nature from the other nine ( last – Earthly Paradise). It may resemble 10 twilights of the Witch’s Epitaph.
- “Dante meets Beatrice at 10th floor, Battler meets Beato at 10th twilight
- “Seven Stakes resemble floors 3rd- 9th of Mt. Purgatorio (each floor represents 1 of 7 deadly sins.)
- “Magic circles in Umineko have a same names as the Spheres of Heaven:
First Sphere of the Moon –> First Circle of the Moon” [. . .] —Azakus, MyAnimeList, October 11, 2009.
To see more of the Dante references fans of When Seagulls Cry have found, check out the full forum discussion on MyAnimeList.
You can buy When Seagulls Cry and check out other games in the series on Steam.
Contributed by Philip Smith (University of the Bahamas)
posted on November 9, 2018 by
“Atlanta Podcasters Go To Hell With ‘The Divined Comedy’”
“‘The Divined Comedy’ is a podcast which is devoted to talking about Dante Alighieri’s Inferno one canto at a time, taking plenty of detours into pop culture along the way.
“Hosts Paul Cantrell and David Fountain began ‘midway in their life’s journey’ in July and plan on covering the entirety of Alighieri’s fantasy about traveling through the nine levels of Hell before moving on to Purgatorio and finally Paradiso. That’s one hundred cantos in all.
“Billing themselves as ‘The Only Dante Podcast You’ll Ever Need, Ostensibly,’ Cantrell plays the role of a sort of cheerleader for Dante, encouraging Fountain through his first reading of the book.
“‘For a poem that is seven hundred years old,’ Fountain said, ‘you can find a remarkable amount of modern lessons in it, and it withstands a lot of poking and prodding.'” [. . .] –Myke Johns, WABE, August 17, 2016.
You can listen to The Divined Comedy on Podomatic.
You can check out Dante Today’s post on The Divined Comedy here.
posted on November 7, 2018 by
Tenth Circle of Hell—Beer Fruiters
“Yes, I know—Dante only discovered nine circles of Hell. That’s because the heathens at Amoretti had yet to practice their foul dark arts. What, you may ask, is their horrible crime? People have been befouling beer with innocent fruit for quite a while. That is, sadly, most true. And have no fear, the Tenth Circle has plenty of room for the likes of the miscreants at Corona and Blue Moon. Don’t be fooled, though, what Amoretti is doing takes the sin of fruiting the beer to whole new level—they want to industrialize it!
“Somehow—and this is a complaint I’ll certainly address—the keepers of the GABF allowed Amoretti to set up a booth of their vile wares to temp and seduce unwary beer drinkers. Right there—in the middle of the Meet the Brewer section, no less—20 some odd evil poisons threatened—what? Oh—fruit extracts. Did you hear that? Fruit extracts! The horror…” [. . .] –Jonathan Berohn, Don’t Fruit The Beer, 2016-2018.
You can read the full post here, and you can check out more of Berohn’s writing here.
You can check out Amoretti’s products on their site.
