Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

Medusa by Anthrax

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Anthrax’s “Medusa” is featured on their album ‘Among the Living.’

The song includes the lyrics “Endless curse, blood runs cold / Evil stare, will turn your flesh to stone / Land of doom, world of sin / All subside, don’t venture near / The island where she lives / Oh, she’ll suck you in,”

These lyrics reference the fallen angels, including Medusa, who deny Dante and Virgil entry into the city of Dis in Canto VIII.

Read more about the song in the Loudwire article by Katy Irizarry, 11 Metal Songs Inspired by Dante’s Inferno.

The Sopranos, Season Six, Join the Club (2006)

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“In ‘Join the Club’ (2006), Tony has a recurring coma-dream in which he checks into Room 728 (i.e., level seven) at the Omni Hotel in Costa Mesa, using the identity of non-mafia civilian Kevin Finnerty. When the hotel elevator is out of commission, Tony descends a red staircase, slips, and falls to level five. Tony’s surgeon, Dr. Plepler, tells Tony’s wife, sisters and daughter they’re lucky Tony’s at a Level 1 trauma center. (Level one is Limbo[42]).”    —Wikipedia

Prisons in Venezuela: “The Fifth Circle of Hell”

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“The standoff at El Rodeo has drawn attention to the conditions of Venezuela’s prisons, which Hugo Chávez, the president, has famously called “the gateway to the fifth circle of hell.” When he was inaugurated in 1999—five years after the end of his own jail stint for leading an attempted coup—22,000 inmates were crammed into prisons built for 17,000. Mr Chávez promised a “humanisation” programme.” [. . .]    —The Economist, July 14, 2011

How to Cite

Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

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