Novels

Dark Dante by Maggie Rose

April 19, 2022 By Hannah Raisner, FSU '25

Dark Dante, a novel by Maggie Rose, takes place in Florence 700 years after Dante’s Inferno.

“In this engaging and evocative mystery thriller, a string of horrendous murders is committed in quick succession. Seeing that the Italian police are making little headway finding the culprit, Maria Farrell, the niece of the first victim, Peter Farrell, decides to investigate. Because of a family feud, she never met Peter, a specialist in art history, who lived in Florence most of his life. A theatre director from Manchester, Maria shrewdly exploits her professional skills and knowledge of Shakespeare’s theatre in her attempt to solve the murders.” –Troubador, 2021

To learn more about the novel, visit troubador.co.uk.

Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human (1948)

April 16, 2022 By Sephora Affa, FSU '24

“…The front door of another person’s house terrified me more than the gate of Inferno in the Divine Comedy, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I really felt I could detect within the door the presence of a horrible dragon-like monster writhing there with a dank, raw, smell…” –Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human, 1948

Contributed by Camila Aguilar (University of Texas at Austin, ’25)

Depths of Dante Novel, Kevin Cady (2021)

March 27, 2022 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

“In his new book, Depths of Dante, Colorado Springs author Kevin Cady invites readers to explore one man’s journey into the darkest regions of the human condition.

“The book follows Dante Trakas on his journey to an unimaginable world. What begins as a search for a lost ship, the Cursed Nomad, turns into a down-the-rabbit-hole adventure where Dante explores not only the furthest reaches of himself but of humankind.

“Trakas descends into the world of eternal punishment, where he explores the furthest reaches of himself, pushed by the devil’s deceitful questions. While in hell, Trakas encounters a wall of bodies, grotesque-looking beasts that defy imagination and psychological warfare on the journey to the devil’s castle.” [. . .] –William Dagendesh, North Springs Edition, October 19, 2021 (retrieved March 27, 2022)

Depths of Dante was originally published on October 13, 2021.

Nuruddin Farah, Links (2004)

March 17, 2022 By Sephora Affa, FSU '24

“Nuruddin Farah’s ninth novel in English, Links, makes a mainly para-textual use of Dante’s Commedia, implicitly validating its canonical status both within Italian literary tradition and world literature as a whole. The epigraphs chosen for each part of the book come from Dante’s Inferno, except the first three exergues…

“Through the references to Dante’s Commedia, Jeebleh’s journey is configured from the beginning as a descent to hell, represented by the city of Mogadishu during the civil war.” [. . .] –Simone Brioni, Lorenzo Mari, Postcolonial Dante: Reading the Commedia in Mogadishu, 2019

Access Links by Nuruddin Farah here.

Contributed by Simone Brioni (Ph.D., Stony Brook University)

Garane Garane, Il Latte è Buono (2005)

February 28, 2022 By Sephora Affa, FSU '24

“Ho studiato nelle scuole della lingua di Dante…Grazie Dea Italia! Sarò finalmente lontano da questi somari, da questi brutti ceffi, selvaggi, che adorano i cammelli…” –Garane Garane, Il Latte è Buono, 2005

“Gashan’s (the protagonist’s) identification with Dante is central in the novel, which can be seen as an inverted journey from the Heaven of the uncritical enjoyment of Italian culture in Somalia to the Hell of European and American discrimination and Somali Civil War. Garane’s Il Latte è Buono can be defined as a Bildungsroman since the character becomes increasingly aware of the psychological influence of Italian colonialism on his education when he reaches and lives in Italy. To some extent, Dante’s role within his Bildung is once again to serve as a meta-literary guide for the main character, recalling Virgil’s role as Dante’s mentor in the Commedia.” –Simone Brioni, Lorenzo Mari, Postcolonial Dante: Reading the Commedia in Mogadishu, 2019

Access Il Latte è Buono by Garane Garane here.

Contributed by Simone Brioni (Ph.D., Stony Brook University)

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