Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
“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
“In 1982, Marvel Comics incorporated Dante Alighieri into their superhero universe in Ka-Zar the Savage Issues #9-12. Apparently, Dante based the Inferno on a pre-historic, Atlantean amusement park, one where cultists killed Beatrice in order to summon inter-dimensional demons. Dante managed to defeat the cultists with his prayers, but they return to power seven centuries later to attempt to summon their demon-lords again. That leaves it up to Ka-zar the Savage to climb down an animatronic Hell to finish what Dante started.” –Paul Jenizm
(Contributed by Paul Jenizm)
“Gates of Hell” is an album released on July 31, 2014 by Sam Coffey and the Iron Lungs. The band hails from Toronto, Canada, and are a self-described “6 piece rock n’ roll band from hell.” — cited from Bandcamp.com
The album features 10 songs:
Watch the music video for the song “Gates of Hell” below:
Learn more about Sam Coffey and the Iron Lungs on their website, and follow them on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Soundcloud.
“There are places on Earth that are a little creepy, places that feel a little haunted and places that are downright hellish. The Darvaza gas crater, nicknamed by locals ‘The Door to Hell,’ or “The Gates of Hell,” definitely falls into the latter category—and its sinister burning flames are just the half of it. Located in the Karakum Desert of central Turkmenistan (a little over 150 miles from the country’s capital) the pit attracts hundreds of tourists each year. It also attracts nearby desert wildlife—reportedly, from time to time local spiders are seen plunging into the pit by the thousands, lured to their deaths by the glowing flames.” — Natasha Geiling, Smithsonian.com (May 20, 2014)
Posted on Facebook by Student Problems (December 5, 2017)
Contributed by Shaimaa Khanam (Florida State University, 2019)
In June 2017, Septicflesh released a video for the opening track of their new orchestral death metal album Codex Omega (Prosthetic Records, Sept. 2017): “Dante’s Inferno.” Of the song, Guitarist Sotiris V. says, “We are proud to present the first track from the upcoming album, Codex Omega. The song is appropriately entitled ‘Dante’s Inferno,’ acting as a gateway to hell… as it was inscribed on the top of the Hellgate in the famous poem by Dante Alighieri, ‘Through me you pass into the city of woe; Through me you pass into eternal pain; Through me among the people lost for aye.’ This is just the first glimpse – the entrance to our new album. Stay tuned as more will gradually be revealed with the release date of our new album getting closer…” (cited on metalunderground.com).
The track was one of the “Picks of the Week” on the blog Metal Sucks. Guest blogger Garren L. has this to say: “Septicflesh have once again demonstrated why they are the masters of symphonic death metal. I might go as far as to make the audacious claim that their new track ‘Dante’s Inferno’ has given Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy an extra layer of sinisterness. By mixing the brutality of death metal with the orchestral elements normally found as part of a film score, Septicflesh are able to portray the horrific, evil, and grotesque nature of what Dante described in his work.” — metalsucks.net
The video is available here.
Contributed by Paul Ickert (George Mason University ’19)
“Somebody has got to keep the Gates of Hell safe from the elements. Meet the students on Stanford’s outdoor sculpture preservation crew. They conduct preventative maintenance on Rodin’s Gates of Hell and 100 other outdoor sculptures across campus. In other words, they get lots of hands-on-the-art experience because they have permission to touch.
“Given the nature of their work, which combines art and science, it’s no surprise that the crew, led by Elizabeth Saetta, is an extension of the Cantor Arts Center’s Art+Science Learning Lab, run by Susan Roberts-Manganelli.” […]
” ‘Regular care protects the sculpture from exposure to the elements, pests and public, and also prevents the need for invasive conservation treatment or repairs in the future,’ Saetta said. She is currently seeking a hands-on student to join the crew – one who’s not afraid of waxing hell.” —Stanford Report
“Columbia University Physics professor, Andrea Mandola, discovers that a near Earth passing of Mars in 3000 B.C. explains the mysteries behind the construction of the pyramids, Noah’s flood, ancient civilizations’ worship of Mars, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and proves Dante’s Gate to Hell actually existed. Using her knowledge of physics and a handsome colleague’s passion for Dante, Andrea’s team uncovers and activates Dante’s Gate. When one of Andrea’s team steps through the Gate his entire life on Earth is erased and the world is forever changed. Dante’s Gate blurs the lines between historical fiction, science fiction thriller and technothriller genres. The book intertwines stories covering 5000 years of history, throws in a little romance and builds to to a suspenseful climax in present day New Jersey.” —Amazon
“On August 16, 1880, Rodin received a commission to create a pair of bronze doors for a new decorative arts museum in Paris. Although the museum did not come to fruition and the doors were never fully realized, The Gates of Hell became the defining project of Rodin’s career and a key to understanding his artistic aims. During the thirty-seven-year period that the sculptor worked on the project he continually added, removed, or altered the more than two hundred human figures that appear on the doors. Some of his most famous works, like The Thinker, The Three Shades, or The Kiss, were originally conceived as part of The Gates and were only later removed, enlarged, and cast as independent pieces.
Rodin’s initial inspiration came from Inferno (Italian for ‘hell’), the first part of Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s (1265–1324) epic poem The Divine Comedy. Rodin imagined the scenes described by Dante as a world with limitless space and a lack of gravitational pull. This allowed for ceaseless and radical experimentation by the artist, with figures that obey no rules in their poses, emotive gestures, or sexuality. For Rodin, the chaotic population on The Gates of Hell enjoyed only one final freedom—the ability to express their agony with complete abandon. In the end, the artist discarded the specific narratives of Dante’s poem, and today The Gates is no longer a methodical representation of Inferno. Instead, the figures on the doors poignantly and heart-renderingly evoke universal human emotions and experiences, such as forbidden love, punishment, and suffering, but they also suggest unapologetic sexuality, maternal love, and contemplation.” —Rodin Museum
