Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
[…] “Learn something new.
“Mr. Bannon also might want to expand his cultural horizons, perhaps by learning a language of one of the few nationalities that he doesn’t want barred from the country. I’d suggest Italian, which would give him the ability to read Dante’s Inferno in the original. That should give him an idea of his future travel plans.” […] –Charles Sykes, The New York Times, January 6, 2018
Pilgrim
He started out a favored son of Florence,
Most bellicose among Love’s devotees.
An arrow early barbed his boyish ease.
The mythic monsters of his own abhorrence
And love swallowed him, spat him out. Adherents
Of papal power and the Fleur-de-lis
Seized all except a sieve of memories
He’d use to strain existence from appearance.
Exile was his stability: the salt
Of others’ bread, his beggar’s role, the cares
He cauterized and bandaged phrase by phrase.
In lieu of pilgrimage he spent his days
Ascending and descending others’ stairs,
As if in restless search of grace in fault.
Alabama Literary Review (Winter 2018)
“When Dante’s Inferno was written all those years ago, the author gave us the most detailed and descriptive account of the nine different circles of Hell.
“Turns out he missed one.
“There are in fact 10 levels of Hell, and whilst the 9th circle is commonly thought to be the worst, the tenth circle is truly horrific.
“And its name is Cinderford.
“Cinderford is a small, decrepit town in the arse end of Gloucestershire, with a population resembling Sauron’s army of orcs from Lord of the Rings. Some of the most bizarre looking human beings, who would not be out of place on a David Attenborough documentary, spend their days roaming the cracked streets in search of something to do.” [. . .] —I Live Here UK, 2018
